Marcus Sedgwick


Marcus Sedgwick is a British writer, illustrator and musician. He has published novels such as Floodland and The Dark Horse. He authored several picture books, and has illustrated a collection of myths and a book of folk tales for adults.
The first U.S. edition of his 2011 novel Midwinterblood won the 2014 Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association as the preceding year's "best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit".

Biography

Marcus Sedgwick was born in East Kent, England. Before becoming a full time author, Sedgwick was a book seller at Heffers, a children's bookstore. He also worked at Ragged Bear, a children's publishing company. His first book, Floodland, was published in 2000, and it received the Branford-Boase award for the best first children's novel of that year. Floodland tells the story of Zoe, who lives on her own on an island that used to be part of England before global warming caused the sea to rise. Though a Horn Book reviewer commented that the book could have used further developed characters, the reviewer concluded, "this first novel is sufficiently taut, accessible, and swift moving to make it an effective cautionary tale." In 2013 released Dark Satanic Mills a graphic novel written in conjunction with his brother Julian Sedgwick and illustrated by John Higgins. His 2015 book The Ghosts of Heaven, a work of young adult fiction consisting of four loosely connected parts combining in an "intriguing" novel, according to Sarah McCarry.

Personal life

When Sedgwick was 20 years old, his father died. In addition to drawing and writing, Sedgwick plays the drums, and he is an avid music lover. Some of his favorite writers include Susan Cooper, Thomas Mann, and Arthur Schnitzler. Sedgwick was a writer at Bath Spa University for three years, and he wrote reviews for The Guardian newspaper. Sedgwick has won numerous awards for his writing. Most notably, this includes the Michael L. Printz Award in 2011 for Revolver, 2014 for The Ghosts of Heaven, and 2016 for Midwinter Blood. Currently, all of his awards, and nomination give him the most citations to date for America’s most prestigious book prize for writing for young adults. In addition to writing, Sedgwick is also currently working on film and book projects with his brother, Julian. Sedgwick divides his time between and the French Alps, with his partner, Maureen Hansman.

Selected works

Novels