Melvin Burgess | |
|---|---|
| Born | 25 April 1954 Twickenham, London, England |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | British |
Melvin Burgess (born 25 April 1954) is a British writer of children's fiction. He became famous in 1996 with the publication of Junk , about heroin-addicted teenagers on the streets of Bristol. In Britain, Junk became one of the best-known young adult books of the decade. Burgess won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British author. [1] For the 10th anniversary in 2007 it was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works, selected by a panel to compose the ballot for a public election of the all-time favourite. [2]
Burgess was born in the Municipal Borough of Twickenham, Middlesex, England (now administered as part of Greater London).
He completed his first book accepted for publication in his mid-thirties: a novel, The Cry of the Wolf , published by Andersen Press in 1990, which was highly commended [3] [a] by librarians for the Carnegie Medal, which Gillian Cross won for Wolf .
Andersen published all of Burgess' books until the mid-1990s. The Baby and Fly Pie (1993) was another highly commended runner-up for the Carnegie Medal, a distinction that was roughly annual. [3] [a]
Junk won the 1996 Carnegie Medal [1] and also the annual Guardian Children's Fiction Prize judged by a panel of British children's writers, which The Guardian confers only once upon any author. [4] Burgess is one of six authors, all 1967 to 1996, who won the Carnegie Medal for their Guardian Prize-winning books.
Kite (1997) features a boy who hatches a red kite egg.
Burgess again attracted controversy in 2003, with the publication of Doing It , which dealt with underage sex. In the U.S. it was adapted as a television series, Life as We Know It .
In other books such as The Ghost Behind the Wall (2000), Burgess has dealt with less realist and sometimes fantastic themes. Bloodtide (1999) and Bloodsong (2007) are post-apocalypse adaptations of Volsunga Saga .
In 2001 Burgess wrote the novelisation of the film Billy Elliot , based on Lee Hall's screenplay.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2022. [5]
Polyphony is a narrative technique used in many of his best known novels.[ citation needed ]
