Mark Haddon

Mark Haddon (born 26 September 1962) is an English novelist, best known for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003). He won the Whitbread Award, the Dolly Gray Children's Literature Award, the Guardian Prize, and a Commonwealth Writers Prize for his work.

Mark Haddon
Born (1962-09-26) 26 September 1962
Northampton, Northamptonshire, England
OccupationWriter, illustrator
NationalityEnglish
EducationMA, English Literature
Alma materMerton College, Oxford
Uppingham School
Spratton Hall School
Period1987–present
GenreNovels, children's literature, poetry, screenplays, radio drama
Notable awards
SpouseSos Eltis
Children2
Website
markhaddon.com

Life, work and studies

In 2003, Haddon won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award—in the Novels rather than Children's Books category—for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. He also won the Commonwealth Writers Prize in the Best First Book category, as The Curious Incident was considered his first book written for adults;[1] he also won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a once-in-a-lifetime award judged by a panel of children's writers.[2] The book was furthermore long-listed for the 2003 Man Booker Prize.[3]

The Curious Incident is written from the perspective of an autistic 15-year-old boy, Christopher John Francis Boone. In an interview at Powells.com, Haddon claimed that this was the first book that he wrote intentionally for an adult audience; he was surprised when his publisher suggested marketing it to both adult and child audiences (it has been very successful with adults and children alike).[1]

His short story "The Pier Falls" was longlisted for the 2015 Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award, the richest prize in the world for a single short story.[4]

Personal life

Haddon is a vegetarian. He describes himself as a "hard-line atheist".[5][6]

Haddon lives in Oxford with his wife Sos Eltis, a Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, and their two sons.[5]

Works
  • Gilbert's Gobstopper (1987)
  • Toni and the Tomato Soup (1988)
  • A Narrow Escape for Princess Sharon (1989)
  • Agent Z Meets the Masked Crusader (1993)
  • Titch Johnson, Almost World Champion (1993)
  • Agent Z Goes Wild (1994)
    • At Home
    • At Playgroup
    • In the Garden
    • On Holiday
  • Gridzbi Spudvetch! (1992)
  • The Real Porky Philips (1994)
  • Agent Z and the Penguin from Mars (1995)
  • The Sea of Tranquility (1996)
  • Secret Agent Handbook
  • Agent Z and the Killer Bananas (2001)
  • Ocean Star Express (2001)
  • The Ice Bear's Cave (2002)
  • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003)
  • Boom! (An improved version of Gridzbi Spudvetch) (2009)

For adults

Poetry
  • The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea 2007

Play
  • Polar Bears (2010)

See also

References
  1. "The curiously irresistible literary debut of Mark Haddon '", Powells.com. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
  2. The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2003 (top page). The Guardian. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  3. Jordan, Justine (15 August 2003). "Booker longlist includes Amis, snubs Carey". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  4. "World's Richest Story Prize". The Sunday Times. 1 February 2015. Archived from the original on 7 February 2015.
  5. 'Inside a curious mind', The Times. Retrieved 11 May 2008.
  6. 'B is for bestseller', The Observer. Retrieved 11 May 2008.
  7. Haddon, Mark (20 May 2020). "Social Distance: a graphic short story for the coronavirus age by Mark Haddon". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
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