Sally Gardner is a British children writer and illustrator. She won both the Costa Children's Book Award and the Carnegie Medal for Maggot Moon (Hot Key Books, 2012). [1] [2] [3] Under her pseudonym Wray Delaney she has also written adult novels. [4]
Sally Gardner is the daughter of two lawyers, she was raised in Birmingham, her parents separated and later divorced when she was five. [5] Her mother, Nina Lowry was a barrister and judge at the Old Bailey. [6] Gardner recalls being badly bullied in school, even being nicknamed 'Silly Sally' on account of her then undiagnosed dyslexia. [7] She was formally diagnosed with severe dyslexia at 12 [2] and didn't learn to read until she was 14, with the first book she read in full being Wuthering Heights . Noticed by teachers for her creative flair, she did very well in art college and then in drama college, and worked as a theatre set designer before turning to illustration and writing. She lives in London. In 2019 Sally became an Ambassador for audiobook charity Listening Books.
Her first book as a writer was published by Orion Books in 1993: The Little Nut Tree, a children's picture book that she also illustrated. [2] [8] Her first full-length novel [2] was a breakthrough, as I, Coriander won the Smarties Prize in 2005 (reader category 9–11 years). It is set in Cromwellian London and tells the story of Coriander, the unhappy daughter of a silk merchant.
The Red Necklace: A story of the French Revolution and its sequel The Silver Blade are set primarily in France during the Revolution and the Reign of Terror, also in contemporary London. They feature an aristocratic girl and a gypsy boy who are 12 and 14 years old when the story opens. The boy Yann has been trained to assist a stage magician but has or develops genuine magic powers; a starred review (unusually good) by the American service Kirkus Reviews labels even The Red Necklace fantasy. [9] [10]
The Double Shadow is historical fantasy that opens in 1937 Britain. [11] Tinder (2013) is a historical novel set during the Thirty Years War. [12]
Maggot Moon (2012) won the Carnegie Medal from the British librarians, which annually recognises the best new book for children or young adults published in the UK. [2] [13] The alternate history is set in 1950s England during the space race, under the thumb of the so-called Motherland. [14] Kirkus says the unnamed "Motherland's distinguishing features scream "Nazi Germany"" and suggests that we "call it Auschwitz lite". Its reviewer judged that the book must fail between younger and older readers: on the one hand, "short chapters and simple vocabulary and syntax ... oversimplified characters, a feeble setting and inauthentic science"; on the other hand, brutal content. [15] Three months later it was recommended for ages 11+ by the panel of British librarians that named it to the Carnegie Medal shortlist with the comment: "A stunning book with an underdog hero, Maggot Moon offers a powerful depiction of an utterly convincing and frightening dystopia. With clever plotting, conspiracy theory and a truly original concept at the heart of it, this is a real tour de force without a hint of sentimentality." [16] The inspiration for Maggot Moon comes from Moon landing conspiracies and her research on "what if histories". [17]
In 2016 she wrote her first adult novel entitled An Almond for a Parrot which The Guardian called 'an irresistible erotic fairytale' [4]
As writer and illustrator
(†) Five classic fairy tales retold and illustrated by Gardner in A Book of Princesses (1997) were reissued by Orion in 2011, singly, as the Magical Princesses series: Cinderella; The Frog Prince; The Princess and the Pea; Sleeping Beauty; Snow White. [18] (‡) The Magical Children series, originally published by Dolphin Paperbacks, comprises "stories about ordinary children who suddenly develop magical powers". OCLC 69020874 | As writer only
As illustrator only
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The Carnegie Medal for Writing, established in 1936, is a British literary award that annually recognises one outstanding new English-language book for children or young adults. It is conferred upon the author by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP), who calls it "the UK's oldest and most prestigious book award for children's writing". CILIP is currently partnered with the audio technology company Yoto in connection with the award.
The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annual recognised one fiction book written for children or young adults and published in the United Kingdom. It was conferred upon the author of the book by The Guardian newspaper, which established it in 1965 and inaugurated it in 1967. It was a lifetime award in that previous winners were not eligible. At least from 2000 the prize was £1,500. The prize was apparently discontinued after 2016, though no formal announcement appears to have been made.
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Maggot Moon is a young adult novel written by Sally Gardner, illustrated by Julian Crouch, and published February 12, 2013 by Candlewick Press. The book takes place in an alternate timeline of 1956 as the characters live in "The Motherland," telling a tale of what could have happened had the Nazis won the Second World War.