Meg Rosoff
Meg Rosoff (born 1956) is an American-born London writer. She is best known for the novel How I Live Now (Puffin, 2004), which won the Guardian Prize, Printz Award, and Branford Boase Award and made the Whitbread Awards shortlist. Her second novel, Just In Case (Penguin, 2006) won the annual Carnegie Medal from the British librarians recognising the year's best children's book published in the U.K.[1]
Life and career
Rosoff was born in Boston, MA in 1956, the second of four sisters.[2] Her family was Jewish (Rosoff has since become an atheist).[3] She attended Harvard University in 1974. After 3 years at Harvard she moved to England and studied sculpture at Central St. Martins in London, England. She returned to the United States to finish her degree in 1980, and later moved to New York City for 9 years, where she worked in publishing and advertising.
In 1989 (aged 32)[2] Rosoff returned to London and has lived there ever since. Between 1989 and 2003, she worked for a variety of advertising agencies as a copywriter. She began to write novels after her youngest sister died of breast cancer. Her young-adult novel How I Live Now was published in 2004, in the same week she was diagnosed with breast cancer.[2] It won the annual Guardian Children's Fiction prize, a once-in-a-lifetime book award judged by a panel of British children's book writers,[4][5] and the annual Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association, recognising the year's "best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit".[6] In 2005 she published a children's book, Meet Wild Boars, which was illustrated by Sophie Blackall. Her second novel, Just in Case, was published in 2006 and won the 2007 CILIP Carnegie Medal[1] and Germany's Jugendliteraturpreis. What I Was was published on August 30, 2007, followed by two additional collaborations with Sophie Blackall: Wild Boars Cook and Jumpy Jack and Googily. Her fourth novel, The Bride's Farewell, was released in 2009 and named one of the ten best books for young adults that were published in the U.S. for the adult market.
There Is No Dog, published by Penguin in 2011 (US edition, Putnam, 2012) is a comic novel supposing that God the creator is a 19-year-old boy. Rosoff told Book Nerd, "The title comes from a joke about a dyslexic atheist walking up and down in front of a church with a sign that reads THERE IS NO DOG."
The film of How I Live Now is currently in pre-production.[when?]
Works
- Picture books
- Meet Wild Boars (Holt, 2005), illustrated by Sophie Blackall
- Wild Boars Cook (Holt, 2008), illus. Blackall
- Jumpy Jack and Googily (Holt, 2008), illus. Blackall
- Novels
- How I Live Now (2004)
- Just in Case (2006)
- What I Was (2007)
- The Bride's Farewell (2009)
- Vamoose (Puffin, 2010)
- There Is No Dog (2011)
- Picture Me Gone (promoted as forthcoming March 7, 2013)
- Nonfiction
- London Guide: your passport to great travel (Washington: Open Road, 1995), by Rosoff & Caren Acker —first edition, 192 pp
- London Guide: be a traveler not a tourist! (Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Open Road, 1998), Ross & Acker —second edition, 312 pp
Book Awards
How I Live Now
- 2004 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize[4][5]
- 2005 Michael L. Printz Award (US)[6]
- 2005 Branford Boase Award (first novel)
- 2005 Der Luchs des Jahres
- made shortlists for 2005 LA Times Book Prize, 2005 Whitbread Children's Book Award, 2006 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis
Just In Case
- 2007 Carnegie Medal[1]
- 2008 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis
- made shortlists for the 2007 LA Times Book Prize, 2007 Booktrust Teenage Prize, 2007 Costa Book Award (formerly Whitbread)
What I Was
- 2009 Der Luchs des Jahres
- made shortlists for the 2008 Carnegie Medal,[7] 2008 Costa Book Award, 2009 New Angle Prize
The Bride's Farewell
- made the 2011 Carnegie Medal shortlist[7] and was named to the Alex Award list (US)
References
- ^ a b c (Carnegie Winner 2007). Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
- ^ a b c "Pieces of Me". London: The Guardian. July 23, 2008. Retrieved May 12, 2010. Retrieved 2008-11-10.
- ^ "Meg Rosoff event cancelled over 'blasphemous' book". Anita Singh. The Telegraph. September 27, 2011. Retrieved 2013-03-08.
- ^ a b Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2004 (top page). guardian.co.uk. 2012-08-07.
- ^ a b "Guardian children's fiction prize relaunched: Entry details and list of past winners". guardian.co.uk 12 March 2001. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
- ^ a b "Michael L. Printz Winners and Honor Books". YALSA. American Library Association. Retrieved 2013-03-08.
- ^ a b Press Desk (directory). CILIP. Retrieved 2012-08-07. Quote: "media releases relating to the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Children's Book Awards in date order." (2002 to 2006 releases concern 2001 to 2005 awards.)
External links
- Official website
- Meg Rosoff at Macmillan
- Meg Rosoff at Fantasticfiction
- Sophie Blackall Illustration
- Meg Rosoff Author Interview at Jean Book Nerd (February 2012)
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