Mark Haddon
Mark Haddon | |
---|---|
Born | Northampton, Northamptonshire, England |
26 September 1962
Occupation | Writer, illustrator |
Nationality | English |
Education | MA, English Literature |
Alma mater | Merton College, Oxford Uppingham School Spratton Hall School |
Period | 1987–present |
Genre | Novels, children's literature, poetry, screenplays, radio drama |
Notable awards |
|
Spouse | Sos Eltis |
Children | 2 |
Website | |
markhaddon |
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.
Contents
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] Despite being categorized as an adult book for some awards, Haddon also won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 2003 for the book.[2] The book was furthermore long-listed for the 2003 Man Booker Prize,[3] and became a long-running stage play.
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] However, it has also received criticism from autistic readers for its 'depressing' depiction of Christopher, the autistic protagonist.[4]
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.[5] He published a collection of short stories inspired by classical mythology called Dogs and Monsters in 2024.[6]
In 2023, he turned down an OBE for his services to literature, saying: 'I would feel uneasy accepting an honour which presumes an uncritical acceptance of the British Empire as a good thing.' [7]
Personal life
Haddon is a vegetarian. He describes himself as a "hard-line atheist".[8][9] In 2019, a heart bypass followed by Long Covid left him with brain fog that made him unable to read or write. He spoke to The Guardian in 2024 about his 5-year-long process of partial recovery, saying that although he still couldn't read properly, the fog was 'starting to thin a little.'[10]
Haddon lives in Oxford with his wife Sos Eltis, a Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, and their two sons.[8]
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
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003)
- A Spot of Bother (2006)
- The Red House (2012)
- The Pier Falls (2016)
- The Porpoise (2019)
- Social Distance (graphic short story, 2020)[11]
Poetry
Play
- Polar Bears (2010)
See also
References
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External links
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- Mark Haddon at British Council: Literature
- Mark Haddon at the Internet Movie Database
- Mark Haddon discussed the rituals and processes that guides his work.
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (official)
- A Spot of Bother (official)
- Interview: Coming Down the Mountain
- Haddon, Mark. "Writers' rooms: Mark Haddon", The Guardian (London), 29 June 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
- Freeman, Hadley. "Novelist Mark Haddon talks to Hadley Freeman", The Guardian (London), 29 May 2006. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
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- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "The curiously irresistible literary debut of Mark Haddon '", Powells.com. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
- ↑ The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2003 (top page). The Guardian. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
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- ↑ 8.0 8.1 'Inside a curious mind', The Times. Retrieved 11 May 2008.
- ↑ 'B is for bestseller', The Observer. Retrieved 11 May 2008.
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- Pages with reference errors
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- 1962 births
- Living people
- 20th-century English male writers
- 20th-century English novelists
- 21st-century English male writers
- 21st-century English novelists
- Alumni of Merton College, Oxford
- British republicans
- Costa Book Award winners
- English atheists
- English children's writers
- English male novelists
- English male screenwriters
- English screenwriters
- Guardian Children's Fiction Prize winners
- New Statesman people
- People educated at Uppingham School
- People from Northampton
- O. Henry Award winners