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Mark Haddon was born in Northampton in 1962. He studied
for a BA in English at Merton College, Oxford, graduating
in 1981.
Mark has packed a lot into his career over the years since
graduating, with a spell working as a live-in volunteer
for someone with MS to working a string of part-time jobs
in London, from theatre box office to bicycle mail order
work.
Between 1983-4 Mark returned to studying to complete an
MSc in English Literature at Edinburgh University. Following
this Mark held part-time positions for Mencap and several
other organisations, working with children and adults with
a variety of mental and physical handicaps.
At this time he was also involved in illustration work
for a number of magazines and has been a cartoonist for
the New Statesman, Spectator, Private Eye, Sunday Telegraph
and Guardian for which he co-wrote a cartoon-strip, Men
- A User’s Guide.
After a year living in Boston, Massachusetts (1997-1998)
with his wife they moved back to England and, dissatisfied
with his illustration work because it was causing him headaches,
he took up abstract painting, which he now regularly sells.
From 1996 until now, Mark has been involved with many television
projects. He has won numerous awards, including two BAFTAs
and The Royal Television Society Best Children’s Drama
for Microsoap for which he was the creator and writer of
12 out of 25 episodes.
He has also written 2 episodes for the children’s
TV series Starstreet and most recently, has been involved
in a BBC screenplay adaptation of Raymond Briggs’s,
'Fungus and the Bogeyman'.
All this still doesn’t make mention of Mark’s
increasingly successful career as an author, with his first
children’s picture book, 'Gilbert’s Gobstopper'
published in 1987 by Hamish Hamilton.
Since then he has gone on to write and illustrate numerous
children’s books including the popular 'Agent Z' series
for Bodley Head, of which 'Agent Z and the Penguin from
Mars' was dramatised on BBC 1 in 1996. In 1994 Mark was
shortlisted for the Smarties Prize for 'The Real Porky Philips'
published by A & C Black.
In a publishing first, Mark’s latest book and first
novel for older readers, 'The Curious Incident of the Dog
in the Night-time' has been published simultaneously in
two imprints. It is available for young adult readers from
David Fickling Books and for adults under the Jonathan Cape
imprint. It has sold co-editions in no less than fifteen
other countries.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is the
often amusing and compelling story of Christopher, a teenager
with Asperger’s Syndrome. Shown through his unwavering
eyes, his family and relationships come under sharp scrutiny
in this unforgettable novel.
Mark now lives in Oxford with his wife, Sos Eltis, who
is a fellow in English Literature at Brasenose College and
their son Alfie. In his spare time, although it’s amazing
to think that he might have some, Mark does marathon canoeing
and as he puts it, ‘various other masochistic sports
activities’.
Profile supplied by Random House
- Last updated August 2003.
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