John Marsden (writer)

Last updated

John Marsden
Born (1950-09-27) 27 September 1950 (age 74)
Victoria, Australia
OccupationWriter/teacher
NationalityAustralian
Period1987–present
Genre Young adult fiction

John Marsden (born 27 September 1950 [1] ) is an Australian writer and alternative school principal. [2] Marsden's books have been translated into eleven languages. [3] [4]

Contents

While working as a teacher, Marsden began writing for children, and had his first book, So Much to Tell You , published in 1987. Since then, he has written or edited over 40 books and has sold over 5 million books throughout the world. [5]

In 2006, Marsden started an alternative school, Candlebark School in the Macedon Ranges. [6] Marsden has since reduced his writing to focus on teaching and running the school. In 2016, he opened the arts-focused secondary school, Alice Miller School, also in the Macedon Ranges. [7]

Early life

Marsden was born in Victoria and spent the first 10 years of his life living in the country towns of Kyneton, Victoria, and Devonport, Tasmania. [4] He is a great-great-great-great nephew of colonial Anglican clergyman and magistrate Rev. Samuel Marsden. [4] When he was 10 years old, Marsden moved to Sydney and attended The King's School, Parramatta. [4] Marsden was accepted into Sydney University to study a double degree in Law and Arts, [4] but eventually dropped out. He has worked at different jobs, including an abattoir, working in a mortuary, delivering pizzas, working as a motorbike courier, working as a nightwatchman, selling encyclopaedias, and working with chickens. [8]

Writing career

Early career

While working at the prestigious Geelong Grammar School's Timbertop campus as an English teacher, Marsden made the decision to write for teenagers, following his dissatisfaction with his students' apathy towards reading, [4] or the observation that teenagers simply weren't reading anymore. [8] Marsden then wrote So Much to Tell You in only three weeks, and the book was published in 1987. [4] The book sold record numbers and won numerous awards including "Book of the Year" as awarded by the Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA). [9] [10] [11] [12]

In the five years following the publication of So Much To Tell You, Marsden published six more books. Notable works from this period are Out of Time, which was nominated by the CBCA as a notable book for older readers, and Letters From the Inside and a sequel to So Much to Tell You called Take My Word For It, which were both shortlisted for the CBCA's Children's Book of the Year: Older Readers award. [12] [13] Upon publication in the United States, Letters From the Inside received accolades from The Horn Book Magazine and the American Library Association. [14] American novelist Robert Cormier found the novel "unforgettable" and described John Marsden as a "major writer deserving of world-wide acclaim". [15]

Later career

In 1993, Marsden published Tomorrow, When the War Began , the first book in the Tomorrow series and his most acclaimed and best-selling work to date. Marsden went on to write seven books in the Tomorrow series, together with a follow-up trilogy, The Ellie Chronicles , despite originally intending the series to only consist of a trilogy.

At the same time as writing the Tomorrow series, Marsden wrote several other novels such as Checkers , edited works such as This I Believe, wrote children's picture books such as The Rabbits, poetry such as Prayer for the Twenty-First Century, and non-fiction works such as Everything I Know About Writing and Secret Men's Business. [1]

Themes

Marsden's earlier works are largely novels aimed at teenage or young adult audience. [1] Common themes in Marsden's works include sexuality, violence in society, survival at school and in a harsh world, and conflict with adult authority figures. [1] However, Marsden also has declared that he wishes to write about "things that have always been important for humans... [such as] love, for a start. And the absence of love. The way people relate to each other. The way people solve problems. Courage. Spirit. The human spirit." [8]

Awards and commendations

Marsden has won every major writing award in Australia for young people's fiction [16] including what Marsden describes as one of the highlights of his career, [17] the 2006 Lloyd O'Neil Award for contributions to Australian publishing. [18] This award means that Marsden is one of only five authors to be honoured for lifelong services to the Australian book industry. [19] John Marsden was also nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2008, the world's largest children's and youth literature award and the second largest literature prize in the world. [19]

Internationally, he has twice been named among Best Books of the Year by the American Library Association and once by Publishers Weekly(USA), has been runner-up for Dutch Children's Book of the Year and short-listed for the German Young Readers' Award, won the Grand Jury Prize as Austria's Most Popular Writer for Teenagers, and won the coveted Buxtehude Bull in Germany. [5] [16]

In 1996, Marsden's books took the top six places on the Teenage Fiction best-seller lists for Australia. [1] Also in 1996, he was named "Australia's most popular author today in any literary field" by The Australian . [1] In 1997, Australian readers voted three of his books into Australia's 100 most-loved books of all time. [1]

In 2014, Lyndon Terracini announced that Opera Australia had co-commissioned Kate Miller-Heidke to write an opera based on Marsden's The Rabbits. [20] The work, The Rabbits , premiered in 2015 in Perth, and was staged in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane, winning several awards.

In December 2018, Marsden was awarded the Dromkeen Medal, in recognition of his outstanding achievement in children's and young adult literature. [21]

Published works and awards

The Tomorrow series

TitleYearNotes
Tomorrow, When the War Began 1993
The Dead of Night 1994
The Third Day, The Frost 1995
Darkness, Be My Friend1996
Burning for Revenge1997
The Night is for Hunting1998
The Other Side of Dawn1999
The Ellie Chronicles
While I Live2003
Incurable2005
Circle of Flight2006

Other works

TitleYearNotes
So Much to Tell You 1987
The Journey1988
The Great Gatenby1989
Staying Alive in Year 51990
Out of Time1990
Letters from the Inside 1991
Take My Word for It1992
Looking for Trouble1993
Everything I Know About Writing1993
Cool School1996
  • Winner, KOALA (Kids Own Australian Literature Awards) 1998 [22] [41]
Creep Street1996
Checkers 1996
This I Believe1996
For Weddings and a Funeral1996
  • Editor
Dear Miffy1997
Prayer for the Twenty-First Century1997
Norton's Hut1998
The Rabbits1998
Secret Men's Business1998
Winter 2000
Marsden on Marsden2000
The Head Book2001
Millie2002
The Magic Rainforest2002
A Day in the Life of Me2002
  • Illustrated by Craig Smith
The Boy You Brought Home2002
A Roomful of Magic2004
  • Illustrated by Mark Jackson and Heather Potter
I Believe This2004
Hamlet: A Novel2008
Home and Away2008
South of Darkness2014
The Art of Growing Up2019
Take Risks2021

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newbery Medal</span> American childrens literary award

The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished contributions to American literature for children". The Newbery and the Caldecott Medal are considered the two most prestigious awards for children's literature in the United States. Books selected are widely carried by bookstores and libraries, the authors are interviewed on television, and master's theses and doctoral dissertations are written on them. Named for John Newbery, an 18th-century English publisher of juvenile books, the winner of the Newbery is selected at the ALA's Midwinter Conference by a fifteen-person committee. The Newbery was proposed by Frederic G. Melcher in 1921, making it the first children's book award in the world. The physical bronze medal was designed by Rene Paul Chambellan and is given to the winning author at the next ALA annual conference. Since its founding there have been several changes to the composition of the selection committee, while the physical medal remains the same.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katherine Paterson</span> American author (born 1932)

Katherine Womeldorf Paterson is an American writer best known for children's novels, including Bridge to Terabithia. For four different books published 1975–1980, she won two Newbery Medals and two National Book Awards. She is one of four people to win the two major international awards; for "lasting contribution to children's literature" she won the biennial Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing in 1998 and for her career contribution to "children's and young adult literature in the broadest sense" she won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award from the Swedish Arts Council in 2006, the biggest monetary prize in children's literature. Also for her body of work she was awarded the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature in 2007 and the Children's Literature Legacy Award from the American Library Association in 2013. She was the second US National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, serving 2010 and 2011.

Robin McMaugh Klein is an Australian author of books for children. She was born in Kempsey, New South Wales, Australia, and now resides near Melbourne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gordon Korman</span> Canadian American author (born 1963)

Gordon Korman is a Canadian author of children's and young adult fiction books. Korman's books have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide over a career spanning four decades and have appeared at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laurie Halse Anderson</span> American writer (born 1961)

Laurie Halse Anderson is an American writer, known for children's and young adult novels. She received the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 2010 for her contribution to young adult literature and 2023 she received the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.

<i>Tomorrow</i> series Series of young adult novels by John Marsden

The Tomorrow series is a series of seven young adult invasion novels written by Australian writer John Marsden, detailing the invasion and occupation of Australia by a foreign power. The novels are related from the first-person perspective by Ellie Linton, a teenage girl, who is part of a small band of teenagers waging a guerrilla war on the enemy soldiers in the region around their fictional home town of Wirrawee. The name of the series is derived from the title of the first book, Tomorrow, When the War Began.

<i>The Gathering</i> (Carmody novel) Novel by Isobelle Carmody

The Gathering is an allegorical 1993 Australian young adults' novel written by fantasy author Isobelle Carmody. The book was published by Puffin Books Australia in 1993, The Gathering has sold over 70 000 copies in Australia and New Zealand alone. The book was a joint recipient of the 1993 Children's Peace Literature Award and was also named Book of the Year in 1994 by the Children's Book Council of Australia. In 1994, the novel was also integrated into the literature curriculum for the junior years of Secondary Education in the Australian state of Victoria.

Carmelina Marchetta is an Australian writer and teacher. Marchetta is best known as the author of teen novels, Looking for Alibrandi, Saving Francesca and On the Jellicoe Road. She has twice been awarded the CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers, in 1993 and 2004. For Jellicoe Road she won the 2009 Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association, recognizing the year's best book for young adults.

The Coretta Scott King Award is an annual award presented by the Coretta Scott King Book Award Round Table, part of the American Library Association (ALA). Named for Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King Jr., this award recognizes outstanding books for young adults and children by African Americans that reflect the African American experience. Awards are given both to authors and to illustrators for universal human values..

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Markus Zusak</span> Australian writer

Markus Zusak is an Australian writer. He is best known for The Book Thief and The Messenger, two novels that became international bestsellers. He won the Margaret Edwards Award in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaun Tan</span> Australian artist, writer and film maker (born 1974)

Shaun Tan is an Australian artist, writer and film maker. He won an Academy Award for The Lost Thing, a 2011 animated short film adaptation of the 2000 picture book he wrote and illustrated. He also wrote and illustrated the books The Red Tree (2001) and The Arrival (2006).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig Silvey</span> Australian novelist

Craig Silvey is an Australian novelist. Silvey has twice been named one of the Best Young Australian Novelists by The Sydney Morning Herald and has been shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. His 2009 second novel was selected by the American Library Association as Best Fiction for Young Adults in their 2012 list, and was made into the movie Jasper Jones in 2017.

Jack Heath is an Australian writer of fiction for children and adults who is best known for the Danger, Scream, Liars and Timothy Blake series. He has been shortlisted for the ACT Book of the Year Award, CBCA Notable Book Award, Nottinghamshire Brilliant Book Award, the Aurealis Sci-Fi book of the Year, the National Year of Reading "Our Story" Collection, a Young Australians Best Book Award, a Kids Own Australian Literature Award and the Australian of the Year Award. He lives in Gungahlin, Canberra.

The Margaret A. Edwards Award is an American Library Association (ALA) literary award that annually recognizes an author and "a specific body of his or her work, for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature". It is named after Margaret A. Edwards (1902–1988), the longtime director of young adult services at Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore.

<i>Tomorrow, When the War Began</i> 1993 novel by John Marsden

Tomorrow, When the War Began is the first book in the Tomorrow series by John Marsden. It was published in 1993, and is a young adult invasion novel, detailing a high-intensity invasion and occupation of Australia by a foreign power. The novel is told in first person perspective by the main character, a teenage girl named Ellie Linton, who is part of a small band of teenagers waging a guerrilla war on the enemy garrison in their fictional home town of Wirrawee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adele Griffin</span> American young adult fiction author

Adele Griffin is the author of over thirty highly acclaimed books across a variety of genres, including Sons of Liberty and Where I Want to Be, both National Book Award finalists. Her debut adult novel The Favor explores themes of friendship, surrogacy, and nontraditional family building.

Kirsty Murray is an Australian author. Murray writes children's fiction with a focus on Australian history. She is known for the Children of the Wind series of children's novels. She is a recipient of the Aurealis Award for best children's fiction.

<i>Hitlers Daughter</i> Book by Jackie French

Hitler's Daughter is a children's novel by Australian children's author Jackie French. It was first published in 1999, and is one of French's most critically acclaimed books.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Marsden, John". Teaching Australian Literature. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
  2. "John Marsden – A different school of thought". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 30 May 2005. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
  3. "So Much to Tell You (John Marsden, summary)". ulike.net. Archived from the original on 22 February 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "John Marsden – Biography" (PDF). John Marsden Official Site. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
  5. 1 2 "John Marsden Biography". Pan Macmillan Australia. Archived from the original on 25 February 2011. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
  6. Bedford, Kathy (17 September 2007). "'Simple philosophy' guides Marsden's school". Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved 21 October 2010.
  7. Romensky, Larissa (1 February 2016). "Author John Marsden opens second school". Australia: ABC News. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  8. 1 2 3 "John Marsden". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 4 November 2004. Archived from the original on 18 February 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
  9. 1 2 "Winners and Commended Books 1980 – 1989". The Children's Book Council of Australia. Archived from the original on 16 December 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  10. 1 2 3 "John Marsden – So Much To Tell You". Audio Books Direct. Archived from the original on 7 March 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "So Much To Tell You by John Marsden". Library Thing. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 "Authors and Illustrators – M". CMIS. Archived from the original on 7 April 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  13. 1 2 3 4 "Winners and Shortlists 1990 – 1999 – CBCA". The Children's Book Council of Australia. Archived from the original on 27 December 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  14. 1 2 3 "Letters From The Inside by John Marsden". Library Thing. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  15. Cromier, Robert. "Letters from the Inside" . Retrieved 7 July 2012.
  16. 1 2 "John Marsden – Griffith REVIEW". Griffith Review: A quarterly of writing and ideas. Archived from the original on 5 March 2010. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
  17. "Get Ahead Kids: John Marsden Interview". Get Ahead Kids. 2009. Archived from the original on 1 September 2010. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
  18. "John Marsden – Interview". The Blurb: A Source for Australian Arts and Entertainment. Archived from the original on 30 November 2010. Retrieved 19 October 2010.
  19. 1 2 "John Marsden". Saxton Speakers Bureau. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  20. "Rabbits let loose as Opera Australia's Lyndon Terracini opts for high drama" by Matthew Westwood, The Australian , 12 August 2014
  21. "Dromkeen Medal". State Library Victoria. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 "Marsden, John 1950–". Contemporary Authors . New Revision Series. 1 January 2004. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Tomorrow When The War Began by John Marsden". Library Thing. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  24. "ALA 1996 Best Books for Young Adults". Young Adult Library Services Association . 1996. Archived from the original on 17 March 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
  25. "American Library Association's 100 Best Books for Teens". Archived from the original on 12 June 2010. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  26. "ALA 1998 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults". Young Adult Library Services Association . 1998. Archived from the original on 6 December 2008. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
  27. "ALA Nominations". American Library Association Young Adult Library Services Association. 18 October 2010. Archived from the original on 17 January 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
  28. "Australian Children's Choice Awards". CMIS. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  29. "Tomorrow When The War Began". Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  30. "The Dead of the Night by John Marsden". Library Thing. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  31. "The Books Tomorrow-Movies – The No. 1 Fansite for John Marsden's 'Tomorrow, When The War Began', the Tomorrow Series and the upcoming Tomorrow Movies". Archived from the original on 9 October 2010. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  32. ""Buxtehude Bull – Winners"". Buxtehude Bull. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  33. "The Third Day, The Frost by John Marsden". Library Thing. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  34. "The Nielsen BookData Booksellers' Choice Award – Australian Booksellers Association". booksellers.org.au. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
  35. "The Night is for Hunting (The Tomorrow Series #6) by John Marsden". Library Thing. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  36. 1 2 "TripAtlas – About Tomorrow Series". TripAtlas. Retrieved 20 October 2010.[ permanent dead link ]
  37. "notables04pb". The Children's Book Council of Australia. Archived from the original on 25 August 2010. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  38. "Victorian Premier's Award". La Trobe University: Children's and Young Adult Literature. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  39. "Christopher Awards – Books for Young People". Children's Literature Web Guide. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  40. "ALA 1999 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults". American Library Association Young Adult Library Services Association. 1999. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
  41. 1 2 "Koala Book Awards". Library Thing. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  42. "ALA 2002 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults". American Library Association Young Adult Library Services Association. 2002. Archived from the original on 14 February 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
  43. John Marsden, ed. (1996). This I Believe. Random House Australia. ISBN   978-0091831127. OCLC   38389492.
  44. "notables03pb". The Children's Book Council of Australia. Archived from the original on 19 February 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
  45. John Marsden, ed. (2004). I Believe This. Random House Australia. ISBN   9781740513623. OCLC   224076448.
  46. "Winners 2009 – CBCA". The Children's Book Council of Australia. Archived from the original on 5 January 2010. Retrieved 20 October 2010.