Malorie Blackman

Malorie Blackman is acknowledged as one of today’s most imaginative and convincing writers for young readers. The novels in her Noughts & Crosses sequence have won several awards, including the FCBG Red House Children’s Book Award. Noughts and Crosses has been dramatised as a 6-part TV series which was first shown on BBC TV in March 2020, as well as dramatised twice as a theatre play and produced as a radio drama for BBC Radio 4.

Malorie has won many other awards for her books. Both Hacker and Thief! won the Young Telegraph/Gimme 5 Award – Malorie is the only author to have won this award twice – while Hacker also won the WH Smith Book Award. Her YA books include Boys Don’t Cry, Noble Conflict, Jon For Short and Chasing The Stars – which she describes as her version of Shakespeare’s Othello set in space. Her work has appeared on screen, with Pig-Heart Boy, which was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, being adapted into a BAFTA-winning TV serial.

Malorie also co-wrote the Doctor Who episode – Rosa. Malorie has also written a number of titles for younger readers including Cloud Busting, which won the Smarties Silver Award, The Monster Crisp Guzzler, Robot Girl, Snow Dog, A Dangerous Game and My Friend’s A Gris-Kwok. In 2005, Malorie was honoured with the Eleanor Farjeon Award in recognition of her distinguished contribution to the world of children’s books. In 2008, she was honoured with an OBE for her services to Children’s Literature.

Malorie Blackman was the UK Children’s Laureate 2013-2015.