Author Biography

Malorie Blackman

Her Life
Author biography

Malorie Blackman was born on 8 February 1962. While at school, she wanted to be an English teacher but grew up to become a systems programmer instead. She graduated at the National Film and Television School. Blackman married her husband Neil in the 1990s and their daughter, Elizabeth was born in 1995. Blackman's first book was Not So Stupid, which was a collection of horror and science fiction stories for young adults, published in November 1990. Since then she has written more than fifty children's books, including novels and short story collections, and also television scripts and a stage play.

Blackman's award-winning Noughts & Crosses series, exploring love, racism, and violence, is set in a fictional dystopia. Explaining her choice of title, in a 2007 interview for the BBC's Blast website, Blackman said noughts and crosses is "...one of those games that nobody ever plays after childhood, because nobody ever wins..." The Noughts & Crosses series was not, for a long time, published in the United States: "though there was considerable interest, 9/11 killed off the possibility of publishing any book describing what might drive someone to become a terrorist." Noughts and Crosses is now available in the US published under the title Black & White.

and Crosses awards
2002, Lancashire Children's Book of the Year.

2002, Red House Children's Book Award.

2002, Sheffield Children's Book Award.

2003, Wirral Paperback of the Year Award.

2004, Fantastic Fiction Award.

2005, Berkshire Book Award (shortlist).

2005, Lancashire Children's Book of the Year (shortlist).

2005, Redbridge Teenage book Award (shortlist).

2006, Lancashire Children's Book of the Year (shortlist).

2006, Staffordshire Young People's Book of the Year.

In June 2013 Blackman was announced as the new Children's Laureate, succeeding Julia Donaldson