David Almond

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	Photo: © Hodder Children's Books

Biography

David Almond was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1951 and grew up in the small mining town of Felling. He was educated at the University of East Anglia and Newcastle Polytechnic. After graduating he worked as a teacher for five years before moving to a remote artists' commune in Norfolk to concentrate on his writing. He then returned to Newcastle, where he worked as a part-time Special Needs teacher and edited the literary fiction journal Panurge. He is an experienced creative writing teacher and has worked for the Arvon Foundation and for schools, colleges and universities and is in demand as a speaker at festivals and conferences around the world.

His first book, Sleepless Nights, a collection of short stories for adults, was published in 1985 and was followed in 1997 by a second volume, A Kind of Heaven. His first children's novel, Skellig, the story of a strange, part-human 'creature' who transforms the lives of two young children forever, was published to immediate acclaim in 1998. The book won both the Carnegie Medal (1998) and the Whitbread Children's Book Award (1998). In 2007, it was shortlisted for the Carnegie of Carnegies. He was given an Arts Council Writers' Award to work on Kit's Wilderness (1999), a teenage novel inspired by the author's childhood memories of disused mines. It was awarded a Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (Silver Award) and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal (2000) and for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize.

Counting Stars (2000) is a collection of children's stories, again inspired by the author's memories of his own childhood and family, and a selection of stories from this volume was published separately in March 2002 under the title Where Your Wings Were, as one of five World Book Day publications. A play, Wild Girl, Wild Boy, was published in March 2002, and a stage version of Skellig was published in April 2002 to coincide with the National Theatre's production of the play. The Fire-Eaters (2003), centres on the fortunes of Bobby Burns and his encounters with a fire-eating devil called McNulty. It was awarded the Gold medal in the Age 9-11 category at the 2003 Nestlé Smarties awards and won the 2003 Whitbread Children's Book Award. It also won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award (USA). Clay (2005), was shortlisted for the 2006 Costa Children's Book Award, and the 2006 Carnegie Medal.

David Almond's work is translated into more than 20 languages. He lives in Northumberland. His latest book, The Savage (2008), is a graphic novel.

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Genres (in alphabetical order)

Children, Drama, Short stories, Young adult

Bibliography

Sleepless Nights   Iron Press, 1985

A Kind of Heaven   Iron Press, 1997

Skellig   Hodder Children's Books, 1998

Kit's Wilderness   Hodder Children's Books, 1999

Counting Stars   Hodder Children's Books, 2000

Heaven Eyes   Hodder Children's Books, 2000

Secret Heart   Hodder Children's Books, 2001

Skellig: A Play   Hodder Children's Books, 2002

Where Your Wings Were   Hodder Children's Books, 2002

Wild Girl, Wild Boy: A Play   Hodder Children's Books, 2002

The Fire-Eaters   Hodder Children's Books, 2003

Kate, the Cat and the Moon   Hodder Children's Books, 2004

Clay   Hodder Children's Books, 2005

Click   (contributor)   Scholastic, 2007

My Dad's a Birdman   (illustrated by Polly Dunbar)   Walker, 2007

Jackdaw Summer   Hodder Children's Books, 2008

The Savage   (illustrated by Dave McKean)   Walker, 2008

Slog's Dad   (illustrated by Dave McKean)   Walker, 2009

Read about books by David Almond at encompassculture.com - the British Council's book database and global online book club

Buy books by David Almond at Amazon.co.uk

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Prizes and awards

1998   Arts Council Writers' Award   (for Literature for Young People)

1998   Carnegie Medal   Skellig

1998   Whitbread Children's Book Award   Skellig

1999   Guardian Children's Fiction Prize   (shortlist)   Kit's Wilderness

1999   Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (Silver Award)   Kit's Wilderness

2000   Carnegie Medal   (shortlist)   Kit's Wilderness

2000   Whitbread Children's Book Award   (shortlist)   Heaven Eyes

2001   Carnegie Medal   (shortlist)   Heaven Eyes

2001   Michael L. Printz Award (USA)   Kit's Wilderness

2003   Carnegie Medal   (shortlist)   The Fire Eaters

2003   Guardian Children's Fiction Prize   (shortlist)   The Fire Eaters

2003   Nestlé Smarties Book Prize   (shortlist)   The Fire Eaters

2003   Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (Gold Award)   The Fire Eaters

2003   Whitbread Children's Book Award   The Fire Eaters

2004   Boston Globe-Horn Book Award (USA)   The Fire Eaters

2006   Carnegie Medal   (shortlist)   Clay

2006   Costa Children's Book Award   (shortlist)   Clay

2007   Carnegie of Carnegies   (shortlist)   Skellig

2007   National Short Story Competition   (shortlist - 'Slog's Dad')

2008   Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (Sweden)   (shortlist)

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Author statement

'I grew up in a big family in a small steep town overlooking the River Tyne. It was a place of ancient coal mines, dark terraced streets, strange shops, new estates and wild heather hills. Our lives were filled with mysterious and unexpected events, and the place and its people have given me many of my stories. I always wanted to be a writer, though I told very few people until I was "grown up". I write for adults as well as children. I've been a postman, a brush salesman, an editor and a teacher. I've lived by the North Sea, in inner Manchester, in a Suffolk farmhouse, and I wrote my first stories in a remote and dilapidated Norfolk mansion. Writing can be difficult, but sometimes it really does feel like a kind of magic. I think that stories are living things - among the most important things in the world.'

David Almond, Counting Stars, Hodder Children's Books, 2000.

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Contact information

Publisher (General enquiries) Hodder Children's Books c/o Hodder Headline 338 Euston Road London  NW1 3BH England Tel: +44(0)20 7873 6000 Fax: +44(0)20 7873 6024 http://www.hodderheadline.co.uk
Also published by Walker Books Ltd 87 Vauxhall Walk London  SE11 5HJ Tel: +44 (0) 20 7793 0909 http://www.walkerbooks.co.uk

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Related links

http:/ / www.davidalmond.com

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