Mal Peet
| Mal Peet | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 1947 North Walsham, Norfolk, England |
| Died | 2 March 2015 (aged 67) |
| Occupation | Writer, illustrator |
| Nationality | British |
| Period | 2003–2015 |
| Genre | Young adult historical fiction; children's picture books |
| Notable works | |
| Notable awards |
Carnegie Medal 2005 Guardian Prize 2009 |
Mal Peet (October 1947 – 2 March 2015) was an English author and illustrator best known for young adult fiction. He has won several honours including the Brandford Boase, the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Prize, British children's literature awards that recognise "year's best" books. Three of his novels feature football and the fictional South American sports journalist Paul Faustino. The Murdstone Trilogy (2014) is his first work aimed at adult readers.
Peet grew up in a council estate in North Walsham, Norfolk, the eldest of three siblings, in a family that he describes as "emotionally impaired". He attended the Paston School and spent one year at the University of Warwick studying American and British literature. He worked at a variety of jobs, including writer for educational publishers, before deciding to start a novel at age 52. He lived in Exmouth, Devon with his wife, Elspeth Graham and their son Tom. He had two other children from a former relationship.
Cloud Tea Monkeys, a children's picture book written by Peet and his wife, is set in the Himalayas and based on a Chinese folktale. Kirkus Reviews observed, in review of the 2010 edition illustrated by Juan Wijngaard, "The deftly spun, emotionally resonant fairy-tale story ... begs to be read aloud. ... Unlike cloud tea, an accessible treasure."
Walker Books published Peet's first five novels, with his latest work, The Murdstone Trilogy, being published by David Fickling Books. For his first novel, Keeper (2003), Peet won the Branford Boase Award, which recognizes "the most promising book for seven year-olds and upwards by a first time novelist." For his second novel, Tamar (2005), he won the annual Carnegie Medal from the British librarians, recognising the year's best children's book published in the U.K.The Penalty (2007) was shortlisted for the Booktrust Teenage Prize and Peet won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize for Exposure (2008), a modern re-telling of Shakespeare's Othello. The once-in-a-lifetime award by The Guardian newspaper is judged by a panel of British children's writers.Keeper, The Penalty, and Exposure are the Faustino books. Tamar is a World War II novel and family mystery set jointly in 1945 Nazi-occupied the Netherlands and 1995 England.
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