Malorie Blackman is a British award-winning author. She primarily writes literature and television dramas for children and young adults. Blackman was honored with an OBE in 2008. Her works have been adapted for TV and stage and translated into over 15 languages.
Malorie Blackman was born to Barbadian parents in Clapham, London. At school, Malorie wanted to be an English teacher, but she became a systems programmer instead. She has an HNC at Thames Polytechnic and is a graduate of the National Film and Television School.
Malorie loved reading books, but none of the books she read as a child featured characters who were black. She started writing because she wanted to include black people in her books.
Malorie Blackman debuted in 1990 with Not So Stupid!, a collection of horror and science fiction stories for young adults. Since then, she has written over 60 children's books, including novels, and short story collections, as well as television scripts and a stage play.
What sets Malorie apart from many other authors is her writing style, as well as storylines that usually involve racism, ethnicity, and violence.
Malorie has received many awards, including the Excel/Write Thing Children’s Author of the Year Award (1997) and the Eleanor Farjeon Award (2005).
In 2013, Malorie Blackman was named the Children’s Laureate. She became the first black person in the UK to be a Children's Laureate.
Malorie Blackman lives with her family in Kent, England.
Photo credit: www.malorieblackman.co.uk
