Christopher Westwood also known as Chris Westwood (born 26 November 1959 in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England) is an English

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

. Born as the son of a coal miner and school teacher, he is best known as the author of young adult fiction and children's books. He began his writing career as a music journalist before studying '' Film production &

TV production A television studio, also called a television production studio, is an installation room in which video productions take place, either for the production of live television and its recording onto video tape or other media such as SSDs, or for t ...

'' at a college in Bournemouth. After graduating from college, he began a career as a novelist.

Career

Westwood's first publication was in the weekly English music newspaper

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the '' NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in '' ...

, where he worked for three years until 1981 and became the first English rock journalist to cover the work of the

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

rock band U2. His first novel '' A Light In The Black'', was published in 1989 by

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

Children's Fiction Prize''. His second young adult novel '' Calling All Monsters'' (1990), had film potential and was considered for adaptation by Steven Spielberg's

Amblin Entertainment Amblin Entertainment, Inc., formerly named Amblin Productions and Steven Spielberg Productions, is an American film production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg, and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marsha ...

and later

DreamWorks DreamWorks may refer to: * DreamWorks Pictures, an American film production company of Amblin ** DreamWorks Television, an American television production company and division of the film studio ** DreamWorks Records, an American record label and f ...

. Westwood's other novels include '' Brother of Mine'' (1993), a study of

sibling rivalry Sibling rivalry is a type of competition or animosity among siblings, whether blood-related or not. Siblings generally spend more time together during childhood than they do with parents. The sibling bond is often complicated and is influenced ...

between twins, '' Becoming Julia'' (1995), a taut thriller about a murder victim and her doppelgänger. These were followed by his cyberspace adventure ''

Virtual World A virtual world (also called a virtual space) is a computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many users who can create a personal avatar, and simultaneously and independently explore the virtual world, participate in its activities ...

'' (1996), which was set in a world of interactive computer games. This book was in included in the contenders list for the Carnegie Medal. His Internet stalker psychological thriller, ''

Profile Profile or profiles may refer to: Art, entertainment and media Music * ''Profile'' (Jan Akkerman album), 1973 * ''Profile'' (Githead album), 2005 * ''Profile'' (Pat Donohue album), 2005 * ''Profile'' (Duke Pearson album), 1959 * '' ''Profi ...

'', was published in 2009. The main influence for this novel was the Alfred Hitchcock film ''

Shadow Of A Doubt ''Shadow of a Doubt'' is a 1943 American psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten. Written by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, and Alma Reville, the film was nominated for an Academy ...

'', one of several Hitchcock films referred to in the novel.

Bibliography

Children's Books

*'' A Light In The Black''. HarperCollins (1991). - A stranger, Mr Stands, comes to town and with him threats to a teenager called Jules and other town inhabitants. *'' Calling All Monsters''. Viking (1990). - Joanne finds that the horror creations of her favourite writer are appearing in real life. *''Personal Effects''. Viking (1991). *'' Brother Of Mine''. Clarion Books (1994). - about identical twins, Nick and Tony, who antagonise each other but also occasionally pretend to be the other. *'' Becoming Julia''. Puffin (1996). - a girl called Maggie resembles Julia, a girl who has disappeared, so the police ask Maggie to play Julia in a television reconstruction of the day she went missing. *''

''. Viking (1997). - about a boy called Jack North who becomes obsessed with a game called Silicon Sphere that somehow causes elements of itself to appear in the real world and other players to disappear. *''

''. Lulu.com (2009). - a thriller about an internet stalker.

Adult fiction

*''Dark Brigade''. Headline (1991). *''The Silence''. Piatkus (1993). *''Sight Unseen''. Piatkus (1994).

Short Stories

*''Closeness, anthology: Thirteen More Tales Of Terror''

Notes

External links

*
Chris Westwood web site

Chris Westwood at Fantastic Fiction
{{DEFAULTSORT:Westwood, Chris English children's writers Living people 1959 births