Anne Fine
OBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
FRSL
The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...
(born 7 December 1947) is an English writer. Although best known for
children's books, she also writes for adults. She is a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...
and she was appointed an OBE in 2003.
Fine has written more than seventy children's books, including two winners of the annual
Carnegie Medal and three highly commended runners-up.
[ For some of those five books she also won the Guardian Prize, one Smarties Prize, two Whitbread Awards, and she was twice the Children's Author of the Year.
For her contribution as a children's writer, Fine was a runner-up for the ]Hans Christian Andersen Medal
The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are two literary awards given by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), recognising one living author and one living illustrator for their "lasting contribution to children's literature". T ...
in 1998. From 2001 to 2003, she was the second Children's Laureate in the UK.[
]
Early life
Fine was born and raised in Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city l ...
and educated in neighbouring midland counties of England. She attended Northampton High School and earned a degree in politics from the University of Warwick. She was married to the philosopher Kit Fine
Kit Fine (born 26 March 1946) is a British philosopher, currently university professor and Silver Professor of Philosophy and Mathematics at New York University. Prior to joining the philosophy department of NYU in 1997, he taught at the Uni ...
until they were divorced; she has now been with her partner Dick Warren for more than twenty years.[ She currently lives in Barnard Castle, County Durham, England. She and Kit Fine have two daughters named Cordelia Fine and Ione Fine.
She has four sisters; her father was an electrical engineer and she grew up in Fareham, Hampshire. The eldest of the sisters is Elizabeth Arnold who also writes books for children; the three younger sisters were triplets. She studied History and Politics at university, got married, and then her daughter Ione was born. At age 24, she wrote her first book.
]
Career
Describing the start of her writing career, Fine has written: “In 1971 my first daughter was born. Unable to get to the library in a snowstorm to change my library books, in desperation I sat down and started to write a novel. Clearly this was the right job for me, for I have never stopped writing for more than a few weeks since”. In September 2010, Fine told '' The Daily Telegraph''’s Jessica Salter that this first book lay under her bed after being rejected by two publishers, adding “Five years later I unearthed it and entered it in a competition where I was runner-up, and it was finally published in 1978”.[
Her books for older children include '' Madame Doubtfire'' (1987), a satirical novel
that Twentieth Century Fox filmed as '' Mrs. Doubtfire'', starring Robin Williams. '']Goggle-Eyes
''Goggle-Eyes'', or ''My War with Goggle-Eyes'' in the US, is a children's novel by Anne Fine, published by Hamilton in 1989. It features a girl who thinks she hates her mother's boyfriend. In the frame story, set in a Scottish day school, tha ...
'' (Hamish Hamilton
Hamish Hamilton Limited was a British book publishing house, founded in 1931 eponymously by the half-Scot half-American Jamie Hamilton (''Hamish'' is the vocative form of the Gaelic Seumas eaning James ''James'' the English form – which was ...
, 1989) was adapted for television by Deborah Hall for the BBC.
Her books for middle children include '' Bill's New Frock'' (Methuen, 1989) and '' How to Write Really Badly'' (1996).
Her work has been translated into 45 languages.
In March 2014, Fine lent her support to the campaign Let Books Be Books Let Books Be Books was founded in March 2014 as a campaign to persuade publishers of children's books to stop labelling and promoting books as 'for boys' or 'for girls'. The campaign, which is led by parents and traces its origins to a thread on the ...
, which aims to persuade publishers of children's books to stop labelling and promoting books as "for boys" or "for girls". She told UK newspaper '' The Guardian'': "You'd think this battle would have been won decades ago. But even some seemingly bright and observant adults are buying into it again There are girls of all sorts, with all interests, and boys of all sorts with all interests. Just meeting a few children should make that obvious enough. But no, these idiotic notions are spouted so often they become a self-fulfilling societal straitjacket from which all our children suffer".
Awards and nominations
The biennial Hans Christian Andersen Award
The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are two literary awards given by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), recognising one living author and one living illustrator for their "lasting contribution to children's literature". Th ...
conferred by the International Board on Books for Young People is the highest recognition available to a writer or illustrator of children's books. In 1998, Fine was one of five finalists for the writing award.
She won the 1989 Carnegie Medal from the Library Association
The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, since 2017 branded CILIP: The library and information association (pronounced ), is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge management, knowle ...
, recognising ''Goggle-Eyes'' as that year's best children's book,[ and she was one of two highly commended runners-up for the same Medal with '' Bill's New Frock''.][ She also won the once-in-a-lifetime Guardian Prize for ''Goggle-Eyes''][ and the Smarties Prize in ages category 6–8 years for ''Bill's New Frock''.
Three years later, she won the Carnegie Medal again for '']Flour Babies
''Flour Babies'' is a day school novel for young adults, written by Anne Fine and published by Hamilton in 1992. It features a group "science experiment" in a classroom full of underachieving students: "When his class of underachievers is assig ...
'' (Hamilton, 1992), which was also named the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year.
''The Tulip Touch'' (Hamilton, 1996) was her second Whitbread winner and her second highly commended for the Carnegie.
''Up on Cloud Nine'' (Doubleday, 2002) was the last highly commended Carnegie runner-up, a distinction then used 29 times in 24 years. Fine is one of seven authors to win two Carnegie Medals (1936–2012) and the only author of three Highly Commended books.[
Fine was the second Children's Laureate (2001–03)] and received the OBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
for services to literature in the 2003 Queen's Birthday Honours List.
;Awards
* 1989 Carnegie Medal – ''Goggle-Eyes''[
* 1990 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize – ''Goggle-Eyes''][
* 1990 Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, ages 6–8 – ''Bill's New Frock''
* 1990 Children's Author of the Year Award, ''Publishing News''
* 1991 Children's Author of the Year, British Book Awards
* 1992 Carnegie Medal – ''Flour Babies''][
* 1993 Whitbread Award, Children's Book – ''Flour Babies''
* 1993 Children's Author of the Year Award, ''Publishing News''
* 1994 Children's Author of the Year, British Book Awards
* 1996 Whitbread Award, Children's Book – ''The Tulip Touch''
* 1998 ]Prix Sorcières The Prix Sorcières is an annual literary prize awarded in France since 1986 to works of children's literature in a number of categories. The categories were renamed in 2018.
The prizewinners are decided jointly by the ALSJ (''Association des Li ...
, best children's book translated into French – ''Journal d'un chat assassin'' (''Diary of a Killer Cat'')
;Runners-up, nominations, etc.
* 1984 Guardian shortlist – ''The Granny Project''
* 1987 Guardian shortlist – ''Madame Doubtfire''
* 1987 Whitbread shortlist – ''Madame Doubtfire''
* 1989 Carnegie, highly commended – ''Bill's New Frock''[
* 1993 Carnegie shortlist – ''The Angel of Nitshill Road''
* 1996 Carnegie, highly commended – ''Tulip Touch''][
* 2002 Carnegie, highly commended – ''Up on Cloud Nine''][
* 2004 shortlist for the Red House Children's Book Award, Younger Readers – ''The More The Merrier''
* 2006 Carnegie shortlist – ''The Road of Bones''
* 2007 Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, ages 6–8, second place – ''Ivan the Terrible''
* 2014 Carnegie shortlist - ''Blood Family''
]
Selected works
Picture books
* ''Poor Monty'' (1991)
* ''Ruggles'' (2001, ), illustrated by Ruth Brown
* ''Big Red Balloon'' (2012)
* ''Hole in the Road'' (2014)
* ''Under the Bed'' (2015)
*.''Como escribir realmente mal''
For younger children
* ''Scaredy-Cat'' (1985)
* ''Stranger Danger?'' (1989, ), illus. Jean Baylis
* ''Only a Show'' (1990, ), illus. Valerie Littlewood
* ''The Worst Child I Ever Had'' (1991, ), illus. Clara Vullianny
* ''Design a Pram'' (1991, ), illus. P. Dupasquier
* ''The Same Old Story Every Year'' (1992, ), illus. Vanessa Julian-Ottie
* ''The Haunting of Pip Parker'' (1992)
* ''Press Play'' (1994, ), illus. Terry McKenna
* ''The Diary of a Killer Cat'' (1994, ), illus. Steve Cox —in French translation, winner of the 1998 Prix Sorcières The Prix Sorcières is an annual literary prize awarded in France since 1986 to works of children's literature in a number of categories. The categories were renamed in 2018.
The prizewinners are decided jointly by the ALSJ (''Association des Li ...
* ''Care of Henry'' (1996, ), illus. Paul Howard
* ''Jennifer's Diary'' (1996, ), illus. Kate Aldous
* ''Countdown'' (1996, ), illus. David Higham
* ''Roll Over Roly'' (1999, ), illus. P. Dupasquier
* ''Notso Hotso'' (2001)
* ''The Jamie and Angus Stories'' (2002, ), illus. Penny Dale
* ''A Shame to Miss 1: Perfect poems for young readers'', selected by Anne Fine (2002) —anthology
* ''How to Cross the Road and Not Turn into a Pizza'' (2002, ), illus. Tony Ross
* ''The Return of the Killer Cat'' (2003)
* ''Nag Club'' (2004)
* ''It Moved!'' (2006)
* ''Jamie and Angus Together'' (2007), illus. Penny Dale
* ''The Killer Cat Strikes Back'' (2007)
* ''The Killer Cat's Birthday Bash'' (2008)
* ''Jamie and Angus Forever'' (2009), illus. Penny Dale
* ''Under a Silver Moon'' (2012)
* ''Out for the Count'' (2016)
For middle children
* ''Anneli the Art Hater'' (1986)
* ''A Pack of Liars
''A Pack of Liars'' is a children fiction novel by Anne Fine. It was first published by Hamish Hamilton in 1988. It won the Dillons/Puffin Birmingham Book Award in 1991.
The Author
Anne Fine has won numerous awards over the years including th ...
'' (1988)
* ''Crummy Mummy and Me'' (1988, ), illus. David Higham
* ''A Sudden Puff of Glittering Smoke'' (1989)
* ''A Sudden Swirl of Icy Wind'' (1990)
* ''A Sudden Glow of Gold'' (1991)
*:The three "Sudden" books were reissued as one, ''Genie, Genie, Genie'' (2004) .
* ''The Country Pancake'' (1989, ), illus. Philippe Dupasquier – also published as ''Saving Miss Mirabelle''
* '' Bill's New Frock'' (1989, ), illus. P. Dupasquier —winner of the Smarties Prize, ages 6–8
* ''The Chicken Gave It To Me'' (1992, ), illus. P. Dupasquier
* ''The Angel of Nitshill Road'' (1993, ), illus. P. Dupasquier
* ''How To Write Really Badly'' (1996, ), illus. P. Dupasquier
* ''Loudmouth Louis'' (1998, ), illus, Kate Aldous
* ''Charm School'' (1999, ), illus. Ros Asquith
* ''Telling Tales (Interview/Autobiography)'' (1999)
* ''Bad Dreams'' (2000)
* ''A Shame to Miss 2: Ideal poems for middle readers'', selected by Anne Fine (2002) —anthology
* ''The More the Merrier'' (2003) ; in the US, ''The True Story of Christmas''
* ''Frozen Billy'' (2004)
* ''Ivan the Terrible
Ivan IV Vasilyevich (russian: Ива́н Васи́льевич; 25 August 1530 – ), commonly known in English as Ivan the Terrible, was the grand prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and the first Tsar of all Russia from 1547 to 1584.
Ivan ...
'' (2007)
* ''Eating Things on Sticks'' (2010)
* ''Trouble in Toadpool'' (2012)
* ''On Planet Fruitcake'' (2013)
For older children
* ''The Summer-House Loon'' (Methuen Methuen may refer to:
*Methuen (surname)
*Methuen, Massachusetts, a U.S. city
**Methuen High School
**Methuen Mall
*Baron Methuen, a British title of nobility
*Methuen Cove, South Orkney Islands
*Methuen Publishing, Methuen & Co. Ltd., a British p ...
, 1978)
* ''The Other Darker Ned
''The Other, Darker Ned'' is a 1979 novel written by author Anne Fine. The story is about a girl called Ione who hears her blind father, Professor Muffet, complaining to his secretary that she only ever 'mopes' and he wishes that she would do som ...
'' (1979)
* ''The Stone Menagerie'' (1980)
* ''Round Behind the Ice-House'' (1981)
* ''The Granny Project'' (1983)
* '' Madame Doubtfire'' (1987) ; in the US, ''Alias Madame Doubtfire''
* ''Goggle-Eyes
''Goggle-Eyes'', or ''My War with Goggle-Eyes'' in the US, is a children's novel by Anne Fine, published by Hamilton in 1989. It features a girl who thinks she hates her mother's boyfriend. In the frame story, set in a Scottish day school, tha ...
'' (1989) ; in the US, ''My War with Goggle-Eyes'' —winner of the Carnegie Medal and Guardian Prize[
* ''The Book of the Banshee'' (1991)
* '']Flour Babies
''Flour Babies'' is a day school novel for young adults, written by Anne Fine and published by Hamilton in 1992. It features a group "science experiment" in a classroom full of underachieving students: "When his class of underachievers is assig ...
'' (1992) —winner of the Carnegie Medal[ and Whitbread Award
* '' Step by Wicked Step'' (1995)
* '']The Tulip Touch
''The Tulip Touch'' is a children's novel written by Anne Fine and published in 1996. The book raises questions of morality and accountability, as well as exploring the question of nature versus nurture. It won the Whitbread Award and was Hig ...
'' (1996) —winner of the Whitbread Award
* ''Very Different'' (2001) —short story collection
* ''Up on Cloud Nine'' (2002)
* ''A Shame to Miss 3: Irresistible poetry for young adults'', selected by Anne Fine (2002) —anthology
* ''On the Summerhouse Steps'' (2006, )
* ''The Road of Bones
''The Road of Bones'' is a 2006 young adult novel written by Anne Fine. It was shortlisted for the 2007 Carnegie Medal. The judges described it as being "incredibly well-written" and having "political resonance for young people".
Setting
The s ...
'' (2006)
* ''Fly in the Ointment'' (2008)
* ''The Devil Walks'' (2011)
* ''Blood Family'' (2013) –shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal
* ''Blue Moon Day'' (2014) –short story collection
*''Shades of Scarlet'' (2021)
For adults
* ''The Killjoy'' (1986)
* ''In Cold Domain'' (1994)
* ''Taking the Devil's Advice'' (1990)
* ''Telling Liddy'' (1998)
* ''All Bones and Lies'' (2001)
* '' Raking the Ashes'' (2005)
* ''Our Precious Lulu'' (2009)
* "Walk on Water, Walk on Air", ''Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'', 18 January 2009
online edition
Notes
References
External links
*
"My Home Library" program launch
by Fine as Children's Laureate
*
*
;Interviews
BBC Radio 4 ''Woman's Hour'' interview
about '' Raking the Ashes'' on 11 April 2005.
BBC Radio 4 interview
about '' Raking the Ashes'' on 18 April 2005.
Transcript of interview
with Ramona Koval, The Book Show, ABC Radio National, 8 September 2008
Interview with Anne Fine (Veronika Asks)
on 13 November 2010
Anne Fine at British Council: Literature: Writers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fine, Anne
1947 births
Living people
English children's writers
British Book Award winners
Carnegie Medal in Literature winners
Costa Book Award winners
Guardian Children's Fiction Prize winners
Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Alumni of the University of Warwick
People from Leicester
People educated at Northampton High School, England
British Children's Laureate
20th-century English novelists
21st-century English novelists
20th-century English women writers
21st-century English women writers
British women children's writers
English women novelists