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Malorie Blackman

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Malorie Blackman
OccupationAuthor
NationalityBritish
GenreChildren's literature, science fiction and horror
Website
http://www.malorieblackman.co.uk/

Malorie Blackman, OBE (born February 1962) British author of literature and television drama for children and young adults. She has used science fiction to explore social and ethical issues. Her critically and popularly acclaimed Noughts & Crosses series uses the setting of a fictional dystopia to explore racism.

Biography

File:Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman.jpg
The cover of the 2002 paperback of Noughts & Crosses

Malorie Blackman was born in February 1962 in London.[1] While at grammar school, in Peckham, she wanted to be an English teacher but grew up to become a systems programmer instead.[2][1] She earned a HNC at Thames Polytechnic and is a graduate of the National Film and Television School.[1][3] Blackman married her Scottish husband Neil in the 1990s and their daughter Elizabeth was born in 1995.[2] Blackman has described herself, "I'm just Malorie Blackman – a black woman writer."[1]

Blackman's first book, Not So Stupid, was a collection of horror and science fiction stories for young adults, published in November 1990.[4] Since then she has written more than fifty children's books, including novels and short story collections, and also television scripts and a stage play.[4][5] Her work has won more than fifteen awards.[5][6] Blackman's television scripts include episodes of the long-running, children's drama Byker Grove, as well as television adaptations of her novels Whizziwig and Pig-Heart Boy.[5] Her books have been translated into over fifteen languages including Spanish, Welsh, German, Japanese, Chinese and French.

Blackman's award-winning Noughts & Crosses series, exploring love, racism, and violence, is set in a fictional dystopia. Explaining her choice of title, in a 2007 interview for the BBC's Blast website, Blackman said noughts and crosses is "...one of those games that nobody ever plays after childhood, because nobody ever wins..."[7] In an interview for The Times, Blackman said that before writing Noughts & Crosses her protagonists' ethnicites were never central to the plots of her books.[2] She has also said, "I wanted to show black children just getting on with their lives, having adventures, and solving their dilemmas, like the characters in all the books I read as a child."[1] Blackman eventually decided to address racism directly.[2][7] She reused some details from her own experience, including an occasion when she needed a plaster and found they were designed to be inconspicuous only on white people's skin.[2] The Times interviewer Amanda Craig speculated about why the Noughts & Crosses series was not, for a long time, published in the United States: "though there was considerable interest, 9/11 killed off the possibility of publishing any book describing what might drive someone to become a terrorist."[2] Noughts and Crosses is now available in the US published under the title Black & White (Simon & Schuster Publishers, 2005)

Noughts & Crosses was #61 on the Big Read list, a 2003 BBC survey to find "The Nation's Best-Loved Book", with more votes than A Tale of Two Cities, several Terry Pratchett novels, and Lord of the Flies.

She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours.[8]

Works

Published works

File:An Eye for an Eye by Malorie Blackman.jpg
The cover of the 2003, first edition, paperback of An Eye for an Eye

Novels for young adults

  • Not So Stupid!: Incredible Short Stories, The Women's Press, 1990, ISBN-10: 0704349248
  • Trust Me, Livewire, 1992, ISBN-10: 0704349310
  • Words Last Forever, Mammoth, 1998, ISBN-10: 074972983X
  • The Noughts & Crosses series
    • Noughts & Crosses,[9] Doubleday, 2001, ISBN-10: 0385600089
    • An Eye for an Eye,[10] Corgi Children's, 2003, ISBN-10: 0552549258
    • Knife Edge, Doubleday, 2004, ISBN-10: 0385605277
    • Checkmate, Doubleday, 2005, ISBN-10: 0385607733
    • Double Cross, Doubleday, 2008,6th November
  • The Stuff of Nightmares, Doubleday, 2007, ISBN-10: 0385610432
  • Unheard Voices: An Anthology of Stories and Poems to Commemorate the Bicentenary Anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade, editor Malorie Blackman, Corgi Children's, 2007, ISBN-10: 0552556009

Short stories for young adults

  • "Humming Through My Fingers" in the multi-author collection Shining on: A Collection of Stories in Aid of the Teen Cancer Trust, Picadilly Press, 2006, ISBN-10: 185340893X
  • Short story in the multi-author collection The Crew and Other Teen Fiction, Heinemann Library, ISBN-10: 0431018758

Novels for children

  • Hacker, Doubleday, 1992, ISBN-10: 0385402783
  • Operation Gadgetman!, Doubleday, 1993, ISBN-10: 0385403372
  • Jack Sweettooth the 73rd, Viking Children's Books, 1995, ISBN-10: 0670855391
  • The Space Stowaway, Ginn, 1995, ISBN-10: 060226393X
  • Whizziwig (illustrated by Stephen Lee), Viking Children's Books, 1995, ISBN-10: 067085705X
  • Thief!, Doubleday, 1996, ISBN-10: 0552528080
  • A.N.T.I.D.O.T.E, Doubleday, 1997, ISBN-10: 0552528390
  • Pig-Heart Boy, Doubleday, 1997, ISBN-10: 0385406819
  • Animal Avengers (illustrated by Bill Greenhead and Stik), Mammoth, 1999, ISBN-10: 0749735570
  • Dangerous Reality, Doubleday, 1999, ISBN-10: 0385406800
  • Don't Be Afraid [11] (illustrated by Bob Harvey), Ginn, 1999, ISBN-10 0602275490
  • Forbidden Game, Puffin Books, 1999, ISBN-10: 0141303212
  • Hostage [12] (illustrated by Derek Brazell), Barrington Stoke, 1999, ISBN-10: 1902260120
  • Tell Me No Lies, Macmillan Children's Books, 1999, ISBN-10: 0333726456
  • Whizziwig Returns (illustrated by Stephen Lee), Puffin, 1999, ISBN-10: 0141304588
  • Dead Gorgeous, Doubleday, 2002, ISBN-10: 0385600097
  • Cloud Busting, Doubleday, 2004, ISBN-10: 0385607962
  • The Deadly Dare Mysteries (contents: "Deadly Dare", "Computer Ghost", "Lie Detectives"; illustrated by Neil Chapman), Corgi Children's, 2005, ISBN-10: 0552553530
  • Whizziwig and Whizziwig Returns [13] (illustrated by Stephen Lee), Corgi Children's, 2005, ISBN-10: 044086657X

Short stories for children

  • "Contact" in the multi-author collection Out of This World: Stories of Virtual Reality (chosen by Wendy Cooling), Dolphin, 1997, ISBN-10: 1858816025
  • Aesop's Fables (retold by Malorie Blackman, illustrated by Patrice Aggs), Scholastic, 1998, ISBN-10 0590543822
  • "Dare to be Different" (illustrated by Jane Ray) in the multi-author collection Dare to be Different, Bloomsbury Publishing, 1999, ISBN-10: 0747540217
  • "Peacemaker" in the multi-author collection Peacemaker and Other Stories (illustrated by Peter Richardson and David Hine), Heinemann Educational, 1999, ISBN-10 0435116002 20220202857574939

Books for new readers

  • The Betsey Biggalow stories:
    • Betsey Biggalow the Detective (illustrated by Lis Toft), Piccadilly Press, 1992, ISBN-10: 1853401633
    • Betsey Biggalow is Here! (illustrated by Lis Toft), Piccadilly Press, 1992, ISBN-10: 1853401722
    • Hurricane Betsey (illustrated by Lis Toft), Piccadilly Press, 1993, ISBN-10: 1853401994
    • Magic Betsey (illustrated by Lis Toft), Piccadilly Press, 1994, ISBN-10: 1853402370
    • Betsey's Birthday Surprise (illustrated by Lis Toft), Piccadilly Press, 1996, ISBN-10: 0590558641
  • The Girl Wonder series:
    • Girl Wonder and the Terrific Twins (illustrated by Pat Ludlow), Orion Children's Books, 1991, ISBN-10: 0575050489
    • Girl Wonder's Winter Adventures (illustrated by Lis Toft), Orion Children's Books, 1992, ISBN-10: 0575053836
    • Girl Wonder to the Rescue (illustrated by Lis Toft), Gollancz, 1994, ISBN-10 0575057742
    • The Amazing Adventures of Girl Wonder (illustrated by Lis Toft), Barn Owl Books, 2003, ISBN-10: 1903015278
  • The Puzzle Planet adventures:
    • Peril on Planet Pellia (illustrated by Patrice Aggs), Orchard Books, 1996, ISBN-10: 1852139358
    • The Mellion Moon Mystery (illustrated by Patrice Aggs), Orchard Books, 1996, ISBN-10: 1852139366
    • The Secret of the Terrible Hand (illustrated by Patrice Aggs), Orchard Books, 1996, ISBN-10: 1860393705
    • Quasar Quartz Quest (illustrated by Patrice Aggs) Orchard Books, 1996, ISBN-10: 1852139382
  • The Longman Book Project (with translations to Welsh):
    • Rachel versus Bonecrusher the Mighty, Longman, 1994, ISBN-10: 0582121515
    • Rachel and the Difference Thief (illustrated by Kim Harley), Longman, 1994, ISBN-10: 0582121523
    • Crazy Crocs (with Alexander McCall Smith and Sally-Ann Lever), Longman, 1994, ISBN-10: 0582122082
  • Elaine You're a Brat! [14] (illustrated by Doffy Weir), Orchard Books, 1991, ISBN-10: 1852133651
  • My Friend's a Gris-Quok (illustrated by Philip Hopman), Scholastic, 1994, ISBN-10: 0590558641
  • Grandma Gertie's Haunted Handbag (illustrated by David Price), Heinemann, 1996, ISBN-10: 0434972258
  • Space Race (illustrated by Colin Mier), Corgi Children's, 1997, ISBN-10: 0552545422
  • Fangs (illustrated by Tony Blundell), Orchard Books, 1998, ISBN-10: 1860397344
  • Snow Dog (illustrated by Sabrina Good), Corgi Children's, 2001, ISBN-10: 0552547034
  • The Monster Crisp-Guzzler (illustrated by Saynab Abdalla), Corgi Children's, 2002, ISBN-10: 0552547832
  • Sinclair, Wonder Bear (illustrated by Deborah Allwright), Egmont Books, 2003, ISBN-10: 140520589X

Picture books

  • That New Dress [15] (illustrated by Rhian Nest James), Hodder Wayland, 1991, ISBN-10: 0750004428
  • Mrs Spoon's Family (illustrated by Jan McCafferty), Andersen Press, 1995, ISBN-10: 0862645824
  • Dizzy's Walk (illustrated by Pamela Venus), Tamarind, 1999, ISBN-10: 1870516419
  • Marty Monster (illustrated by Kim Harley), Tamarind, 1999, ISBN-10: 1870516427
  • I Want a Cuddle! (illustrated by Joanne Partis), Orchard Books, 2001, ISBN-10: 1841218235
  • Jessica Strange (with Alison Bartlett), Hodder Children's Books, 2002, ISBN-10: 0340779632
  • Contributed to A Christmas Tree of Stories, Scholastic Press, 1999, ISBN-10: 0439011922

Television scripts

Stage plays

  • 2002, The Amazing Birthday

Awards and nominations

File:Knife Edge by Malorie Blackman.jpg
The cover of the 2004, first edition, hardcover of Knife Edge

Body of work

  • 1997, Excelle/Write Thing Children's Author of the Year Award.[5]
  • 2005, Children's Book Circle's Eleanor Farjeon Award.[6]

Novels

For Hacker (1992)

  • 1994, W.H. Smith Mind Boggling Book of the Year Award.[5]
  • 1994, Young Telegraph/Gimme 5 Children's Book of the Year Award.[5]
  • 1995, Birmingham/TSB Children's Book Award (shortlist).[6]

For Thief! (1996)

  • 1996, Young Telegraph/Fully Booked Children's Book of the Year Award.[5]

For A.N.T.I.D.O.T.E (1997)

  • 1997, Stockport Children's Book of the Year Award (Key Stage 3 category).[5]
  • 1997, Stockton-on-Tees Children's Book Award (shortlisted).[6]
  • 1998, Sheffield Children's Book Award (highly commended).[6]
  • 2001, Stockport Schools Book Award (shortlisted).[6]

For Pig-Heart Boy (1997)

For Tell Me No Lies (1999)

  • 2000, Stockport Children's Book Award (shortlisted) (Key Stage 4 category).[5][6]

For Dead Gorgeous (2002)

  • 2003, Calderdale Book of the Year (shortlist).[6]
  • 2003, Salford Children's Book Award (shortlist).[6]
File:Checkmate by Malorie Blackman.jpg
The cover of the 2005, first edition, hardcover of Checkmate

For books in the Noughts & Crosses series

For Cloud Busting (2004)

  • 2004, Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (Silver Award) (6-8 years category).[5]
  • 2005, Redbridge Children's Book Award (shortlist).[6]
  • 2005, Stockport Schools Book Award (shortlisted).[6]
  • 2006, Nottingham Children's Book Award (shortlist) (10-11 years category).[6]
  • 2006, West Sussex Children's Book Award (shortlist).[6]

Television adaptations

For Pig-Heart Boy

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Blackman, Malorie (1995–2007). "Malorie Blackman". Penguin UK Authors. Penguin Books Ltd. Retrieved 2007-03-23.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Craig, Amanda (2004-01). "Malorie Blackman: the world in photographic negative". The Times. Times Newspapers Limited. Retrieved 2007-03-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ "Malorie Blackman". 40 artists, 40 days. Tate Online. 2006. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
  4. ^ a b "Full Record". British Library Integrated Catalogue. The British Library Board. Retrieved 2007-03-28.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w "Malorie Blackman". Contemporary Writers. British Council. 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-23.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y "Awards and Prizes". Kids at Random House. Random House Children's Books. Retrieved 2007-03-23.
  7. ^ a b "Malorie Blackman - Children and Young People's Writer". Blast. BBC. Retrieved 2007-03-23.
  8. ^ "No. 58729". The London Gazette (invalid |supp= (help)). 14 June 2008. {{cite magazine}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Also published as Black & White, Simon Pulse, 2007, ISBN-10: 1416900179
  10. ^ Also published in Noughts & Crosses, Corgi Children's, 2006, ISBN-10: 0552555703
  11. ^ Originally published 1997
  12. ^ Also published as 4u2read.ok Hostage, Barrington Stoke, 2002, ISBN-10: 184299056X, and as a "Close Look, Quick Look" photocopiable version for teachers, Barrington Stoke, 2004, ISBN-10: 1842992368
  13. ^ Originally published separately as Whizziwig, 1995, and Whizzywhig Returns, 1999
  14. ^ Also published as Ellie, and the Cat!, Orchard Books, 2005, ISBN-10: 1843623919
  15. ^ Also published as A New Dress for Maya, Gary Stevens Publishing, 1992, ISBN-10: 0836807138


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