Marcus Sedgwick
MarcusĀ was born and raised in a small village in East Kent in the south-east of England. He now lives in the south of France. Marcus is a writer of over 40 books forĀ adults and young adults, ofĀ novels for younger people, ofĀ non-fiction and academic essays. He even published a couple of picture books once but thatās a secret. He is winner of many prizes, most notably the 2014Ā Michael L. Printz AwardĀ for his novel Midwinterblood. Marcus has also received two Printz Honors, for Revolver in 2011 and The Ghosts of Heaven in 2016, giving him the most citations to date for Americaās most prestigious book prize for writing for young adults. Other notable award winning books include Floodland, Marcusā first novel, which won the Branford-Boase Award in 2001, a prize for the best debut novel for children published in the UK each year; My Swordhand is Singing, which won the Booktrust Teenage Prize for 2007, and Lunatics and Luck, part of The Raven Mysteries series, which won a Blue Peter Book Award in 2011.
His books have been shortlisted for over forty other awards, including the Carnegie Medal (eight times), the Edgar Allan Poe Award (twice) and the Guardian Childrenās Fiction Prize (four times). He has been nominated for another of the worldās pre-eminent prizes for writing for children ā theĀ Astrid Lindgren Memorial AwardĀ ā five times: in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. Marcus has been announced as one of the two UK nominations for the 2022Ā Hans Christian Andersen Award, along with the wonderful David McKee. More informationĀ here andĀ here.
Marcus was Author-in-Residence at Bath Spa University for three years, has reviewed books and written articles for various national newspapers such as The Times, The Sunday Times, and The Guardian, and magazines, such as Tatler. He periodically teaches creative writing atĀ ArvonĀ andĀ Ty Newydd. He has judged numerous books awards, including the Guardian Childrenās Fiction Prize and the Costa Book Awards.Ā
In addition, he has illustrated some of his books, and has provided wood-engravings for a couple of private press books. He has worked for the British Council, promoting literature outside of the UK, and has lectured in many places, as far afield as Los Angeles, London and Kuala Lumpur.
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