| Mark Haddon | |
|---|---|
| Born | 28 October 1962 Northampton |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Genres | Children's literature, Poetry, Screenplay, Radio drama |
| Spouse(s) | Dr. Sos Eltis |
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www.markhaddon.com |
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Mark Haddon (born 28 October 1962) is an English novelist and poet, best known for his 2003 novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
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Haddon was born in 1962 in Northampton and educated at Uppingham School and Merton College, Oxford, where he studied English language. Afterward, he was employed in several different occupations. One included working with people and children with disabilities, and another included creating illustrations and cartoons for magazines and newspapers. (Holcombe) He lived in Boston for a year with his wife until they moved back to England. Then, Mark took up painting and selling abstract art. (Random House) Mark had a studio on the ground floor of his house; he thought that it looked like a primary school library on the inside. This is appropriate, however, considering that Haddon’s work is a self-proclaimed “distillation of all that was best about school.” (Haddon)
Another important aspect of Mark Haddon’s life is his work as an author. In 1987, Haddon wrote his first children’s book, Gilbert’s Gobstopper. This was followed by many other children’s books, which were oftentimes self-illustrated.
In 2003, Haddon won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award and in 2004, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize Overall Best First Book for his novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, a book which is written from the perspective of a boy with Asperger syndrome. However, Haddon has stated on his website that he knows "very little about the subject", and that he "slightly regret[s]" that the term "Asperger syndrome" appeared on the cover of his book. Moreover, he had done no research about autism before writing the novel. Rather, he recommends that one read works by people who have Asperger syndrome themselves.[1] In an interview at Powells.com, Haddon claimed that this was the first book that he wrote intentionally for an adult audience; he was surprised when his publisher suggested marketing it to both adult and child audiences.[2] His second adult novel, A Spot of Bother, was published in September 2006.
Mark Haddon is also known for his series of Agent Z books, one of which, Agent Z and the Penguin from Mars, was made into a 1996 Children's BBC sitcom. He also wrote the screenplay for the BBC television adaptation of Raymond Briggs's story Fungus the Bogeyman, screened on BBC1 in 2004. In 2007 he wrote the BBC television drama Coming Down the Mountain.
Haddon is a vegetarian, and enjoys vegetarian cookery. He describes himself as a 'hard-line atheist'.[3] In an interview with The Observer, Haddon said "I am atheist in a very religious mould".[4] His atheism might be inferred from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time in which the main character declares that those who believe in God are stupid.
In 2009, he donated the short story The Island to Oxfam's 'Ox-Tales' project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Haddon's story was published in the 'Fire' collection.[5]
In 2010, Orlai Produkciós Iroda made a monodrama, Nemsenkilény, monológ nemmindegyembereknek ("Notanobodycreature"), from book of Henriett Seth F.. The text book contains details of Donna Williams' s Nobody Nowhere: The extraordinary Autobiography of an Autistic Girl few lines, Birger Sellin' s Don't want to Be Inside Me Anymore: Messages from Autistic Mind few lines and a few lines by Mark Haddon' s: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.[6]
Mark Haddon lives in Oxford with his wife Dr. Sos Eltis, a Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, and their two young sons.[3]
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