Anne Fine

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Anne Fine
Born (1947-12-07) 7 December 1947 (age 65)
Leicester, United Kingdom
Occupation Writer
Nationality British
Alma mater University of Warwick
Period 1978–present
Genres Children's literature (all ages); black comedy
Notable work(s)
Notable award(s) Carnegie Medal
1989, 1992
Guardian Prize
1990
Spouse(s) Kit Fine, Dick Warren[1]
Children Cordelia Fine, Ione Fine
www.annefine.co.uk

Anne Fine, OBE FRSL (born 7 December 1947) is a British author best known for children's literature although she also writes for adults. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and she was awarded an OBE in 2003.[2]

Fine has written more than fifty children's books including two winners of the annual Carnegie Medal and three highly commended runners up.[3][a] For some of those five books she also won the Guardian Prize, one Smarties Prize, two Whitbread Awards, and she was twice the Children's Author of the Year. She was appointed the second British Children's Laureate (2001–2003).

Contents

Life [edit]

Fine was born in Leicester, Leicestershire, and educated in neighboring counties of central England. She graduated from Northampton High School and earned a degree in politics from University of Warwick. She was married to the philosopher Kit Fine and has now been with her partner Dick Warren for more than 20 years.[1] She currently lives in Barnard Castle, County Durham, England.

Writer [edit]

Her books for older children include Madame Doubtfire (1987), a satirical novel[4] that Twentieth Century Fox filmed as Mrs. Doubtfire starring Robin Williams. Goggle-Eyes (Hamish Hamilton, 1989) was adapted for television by Deborah Hall for the BBC.

Her books for middle children include Bill's New Frock (Methuen, 1989) and How to Write Really Badly (1996).

Her work has been translated into 45 languages[5].

Awards [edit]

Fine won the 1989 Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising Goggle-Eyes as that year's best children's book by a British subject,[6] and she was one of two highly commended runners up for the same Medal with Bill's New Frock.[3][a] She also won the once-in-a-lifetime Guardian Prize for Goggle-Eyes[7] and the Smarties Prize in ages category 6–8 years for Bill's New Frock.

Three years later she won the Carnegie Medal again for Flour Babies (Hamilton, 1992), which was also named the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year. The Tulip Touch (Hamilton, 1996) was her second Whitbread winner and her second highly commended for the Carnegie.

Up On Cloud Nine (Doubleday, 2002) was the last highly commended Carnegie runner up, a distinction then used 29 times in 24 years. Fine is one of seven authors to win two Carnegie Medals (1936–2012) and the only author of three Highly Commended books.[3][a]

Awards[8]
Runners up, nominations, etc.
  • 1984 Guardian shortlist – The Granny Project
  • 1987 Guardian shortlist – Madame Doubtfire
  • 1987 Whitbread shortlist – Madame Doubtfire
  • 1989 Carnegie, highly commended – Bill's New Frock[3]
  • 1993 Carnegie shortlist – The Angel of Nitshill Road
  • 1996 Carnegie, highly commended – Tulip Touch[3]
  • 2002 Carnegie, highly commended – Up On Cloud Nine[3]
  • 2004 shortlist for the Red House Children's Book Award, Younger Readers - The More The Merrier
  • 2006 Carnegie shortlist – The Road of Bones
  • 2007 Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, ages 6–8, second place – Ivan the Terrible

Selected works [edit]

Picture books [edit]

For younger children [edit]

For middle children [edit]

The three "Sudden" books were reissued as one, Genie, Genie, Genie (2004) ISBN 1-4052-1202-0.

For older children [edit]

For adults [edit]

The Killjoy (1986) ISBN 0-14-023842-5

Nobody has ever treated Ian Laidlow in a natural way. Disfigured by hideous facial scars he had never been treated with anything other than distant courtesy. But then Alicia Davie, a careless, ignorant young student breaks this pattern by laughing in his face. Alicia goes on to infiltrate the hidden man, going through the face he presents to the world, through his scar patch, to discover the hidden man, never realising that she is playing with fire...

In Cold Domain (1994) ISBN 0-670-85609-6

A glorious tirade against the grind of motherhood. Lilith Collett lives in an Eden, a paradise that enchanted the childhoods of her children. Now if any one of them dares to defy her in the smallest matter, she destroys yet another part of the garden and of their childhood. Enter an archangel, Miguel-Angel Arqueso Algaron Perez de Vega, under whose spell the downtrodden Barbara dares to defy her mother. When Williams lover Casper weighs in his subtle way the fate of the Colletts and their garden are finally and unexpectedly sealed.

Taking the Devil's Advice (1990) ISBN 0-670-83191-3

A philosopher spends his summer with his children, his ex-wife and his ex-gardener (his ex-wife's new husband) to write his autobiography. His notes are interspersed with his wife's side of the story, and though philosophy was always easier for Oliver than real life, real life is about to come crashing down around him.

Telling Liddy (1998) ISBN 0-593-04235-2

All Bones and Lies (2001) ISBN 0-593-04725-7

Raking the Ashes (2005) ISBN 0-593-05412-1

Our Precious Lulu (2009) ISBN 0-593-06361-9

"Walk on Water, Walk on Air", Sunday Times, 18 January 2009 (online edition)

See also [edit]

Notes [edit]

  1. ^ a b c Today there are usually eight books on the Carnegie shortlist. CCSU lists 32 "Highly Commended" runners up for the Carnegie Medal from 1966 to 2002 but only three before 1979 when the distinction became approximately annual. There were 29 "HC" books in 24 years including two in 1989 and one each in 1996 and 2002. (The "Commended" distinction was used about 135 times from 1954 to 2002.)
    • No one has won three Carnegies. Among the seven authors with two Medals, six were active during 1966–2002 and all wrote at least one highly commended runner up, led by Anne Fine with three.
  2. ^ a b c Anne Fine's first two books, The Summer-House Loon and The Other Darker Ned, published by Methuen Children's Books in 1978 and 1979, were updated, linked by new text, and published by Corgi Children's Books in 2006 under the title On The Summerhouse Steps.

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b Salter, Jessica (14 September 2010). "World of Anne Fine, author". The Daily Telegraph (London). 
  2. ^ "Anne Fine Awarded OBE". Jubilee Books. 21 July 2003. Retrieved 2008-08-21. 
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Carnegie Medal Award". 2007(?). Curriculum Lab. Elihu Burritt Library. Central Connecticut State University (CCSU). Retrieved 2012-07-07.
  4. ^ Mary Ellen Snodgrass, Encyclopaedia of Satirical Literature, Oxford, 1996, p. xv.
  5. ^ "Anne Fine's books in translation" Retrieved 2013-05-07.
  6. ^ a b c (Carnegie Winner 1989). Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
  7. ^ a b c "Guardian children's fiction prize relaunched: Entry details and list of past winners". theguardian 12 March 2001. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
  8. ^ "Anne Fine". Literature: Writers. British Council. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
  9. ^ a b (Carnegie Winner 1992). Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 2012-08-02.

External links [edit]

Library resources
About Anne Fine
By Anne Fine
Interviews
Cultural offices
Preceded by
Quentin Blake		 Children's Laureate of the United Kingdom
2001 –2003		 Succeeded by
Michael Morpurgo
Authority control
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