Kevin Brooks (writer)
Kevin Brooks | |
|---|---|
| Born | 30 March 1959 Pinhoe, Exeter, England |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | British |
| Period | 2002–present |
| Genre | Young adult fiction |
| Notable works | Martyn Pig The Bunker Diary |
| Notable awards | Carnegie Medal 2013 |
Kevin M. Brooks (born 30 March 1959) is an English writer best known for young-adult novels. The Bunker Diary, published by Penguin Books in 2013, won the annual Carnegie Medal as the best new book for children or young adults published in the U.K., an exceptionally controversial selection by the British librarians.[1][2][3][4]
Early life and education
Brooks was born in Pinhoe on the outskirts of Exeter in south-west England, the second of three brothers.[5][6] At the age of 11, he won a scholarship to Exeter School,[7] where he felt estranged from the other pupils from better-off families and took solace in fiction.[6] He went on to study psychology and philosophy at Aston University in Birmingham.[8] His father died when he was 20.[6]
Brooks's debut novel Martyn Pig was published in 2003 by Chicken House, where it was edited by the founder of the company Barry Cunningham, OBE. They won the next Branford Boase Award "for authors and their editors", which annually recognises an outstanding British novel for young people by a first-time novelist.[9][10]
By a wide margin his work most widely held in WorldCat libraries is the 2009 novel Killing God, entitled Dawn in North America.[11] The title character Dawn "contemplates killing God, whom she blames for her father's disappearance". OCLC 301947727 "When Dawn's dad found God, it was the worst time ever. He thought he'd found the answer to everything. But that wasn't the end of it." OCLC 458727901
Books
- Johnny Delgado series
- Johnny Delgado: Private Detective
- Like Father, Like Son (2006)
- Private Detective (2006)
- Johnny Delgado: In Father's Steps (2008)
- PI John Crane series
- A Dance of Ghosts (2011)
- Until the Darkness Comes (2012)
- Wrapped in White (2013)
- Travis Delaney series
- The Ultimate Truth (2014)
- The Danger Game (2014)
- The Snake Trap (2015)
- Standalone novels
- Martyn Pig (Chicken House, 2002)[9]
- Lucas (2002)
- Kissing the Rain (2004)
- Bloodline (2004)
- I See You (2005), by Brooks and Catherine Forde
- Candy (2005)
- The Road of the Dead (2006)
- Being (2007)
- Black Rabbit Summer (2008)
- Killing God (2009); US title, Dawn
- iBoy (2010)
- Naked (2011)
- The Bunker Diary (2013)
- The Devil's Angel (2014)
References
- ^ (Carnegie Winner 2014). Living Archive: Celebrating the Carnegie and Greenaway Winners. CILIP. Retrieved 2014-07-01.
- ^ "Press Desk: 'Children Don't Need Happy Endings' say winners of UK's most prestigious children's book awards". Press release 23 June 2014, with press kit. CILIP. Retrieved 2014-07-01.
- ^ "The Bunker Diary wins children's book prize". BBC. 23 June 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
- ^ Flood, Alison (24 June 2014). "Carnegie medal under fire after 'vile and dangerous' Bunker Diary wins". The Guardian. Retrieved 2014-06-30.
- ^ "Award winning Exeter author Kevin Brooks donates cash prize to Pinhoe library". Express & Echo. Exeter. 30 June 2014.
- ^ a b c Rabinovitch, Dina (28 April 2004). "Author of the month: Kevin Brooks". The Guardian.
- ^ "The Bunker Diary: Exeter author Kevin Brooks wins children's book prize". Express & Echo. 23 June 2014.
- ^ "Kevin Brooks". Goodreads. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
- ^ a b "Previous Winners". The Branford Boase Award (branfordboaseaward.org.uk). Retrieved 2014-07-01. From the homepage: "The Award is made annually to the most promising book for seven-year-olds and upwards by a first time novelist".
- ^ "About Us". Chicken House (doublecluck.com). Retrieved 2014-07-01.
- ^ "Brooks, Kevin". WorldCat. Retrieved 2014-07-01.
External links
- Kevin Brooks on Myspace
- Kevin Brooks at British Council: Literature
- Brooks at publisher Chicken House
- Brooks at Fantasticfiction
- Kevin Brooks at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Kevin Brooks at Library of Congress, with 11 library catalogue records
