Dame Jacqueline Wilson (née Aitken; born 17 December 1945) is an English novelist known for her popular
children's literature
Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader.
Children's ...
. Her novels have been notable for featuring realistic topics such as adoption and divorce without alienating her large readership. Since her
debut novel
A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...
in 1969, Wilson has written
over 100 books.
Early life
Jacqueline Aitken was born in
Bath, Somerset
Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...
, on 17 December 1945. Her father, Harry, was a civil servant and her mother, Biddy, was an antiques dealer.
She particularly enjoyed books by
Noel Streatfeild
Mary Noel Streatfeild OBE (24 December 1895 –11 September 1986) was an English author, best known for children's books including the "Shoes" books, which were not a series (though some books made references to others). Random House, the ...
, as well as American classics like ''
Little Women'' and ''
What Katy Did
''What Katy Did'' is an 1872 children's book written by Sarah Chauncey Woolsey under her pen name "Susan Coolidge". It follows the adventures of a twelve-year-old American girl, Katy Carr, and her family who live in the fictional lakeside Ohio to ...
''.
At the age of nine, she wrote her first "book", "Meet the Maggots", which was 21 pages long. Wilson was given the nickname Jacky Daydream at school, which she later used as the title of her autobiography, which tells of her life as a primary school-aged child.
Wilson attended
Coombe Girls' School
Coombe Girls' School is an all-girls secondary school and co-educational sixth form with academy status in New Malden, South-West London, England. The school is a Leading Edge School, a Training School and specialises in languages. The school ...
in Surrey and
Carshalton Technical College.
After leaving school at age 16, she began training as a secretary but then applied to work with the
Dundee
Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
-based publishing company
DC Thomson
DC Thomson is a media company based in Dundee, Scotland. Founded by David Couper Thomson in 1905, it is best known for publishing ''The Dundee Courier'', ''The Evening Telegraph'' and ''The Sunday Post'' newspapers, and the comics ''Oor Wull ...
on a new girls' magazine, ''
Jackie''.
Career
When Wilson began to focus on writing, she completed several
crime fiction
Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...
novels before dedicating herself to children's books. At the age of 40, she took
A-level
The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...
English and earned a grade A.
She had mixed success with about 40 books before the breakthrough to fame in 1991 with ''
The Story of Tracy Beaker
''The Story of Tracy Beaker'' is a British children's book first published in 1991, written by Jacqueline Wilson and illustrated by Nick Sharratt.
Background
The book is told from the point of view of Tracy Beaker, a troubled ten-year-old gir ...
'', published by
Doubleday.
As her children's novels frequently feature themes of
adoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...
,
divorce
Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...
and
mental illness
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...
, they tend to attract controversy, yet are well loved by children and adults alike.
University of Roehampton and charity work
In June 2013, Wilson was appointed a professorial fellow of the University of Roehampton, and a Pro-Chancellor. In February 2014, it was announced that she would be appointed Chancellor of the university (its honorary figurehead) from August 2014. She was reappointed in 2017 for a further three years.
She teaches modules in both the Children's Literature and Creative Writing master's degree (MA) programmes offered by the university. She concluded her term as Chancellor in August 2020.
Wilson is patron of the charity Momentum in
Kingston upon Thames
Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable as ...
,
Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
,
which helps Surrey children undergoing treatment for
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
(and their families), and also a patron of the Letterbox Club, a
BookTrust initiative.
Until she moved away from Kingston-upon-Thames she was a patron of the
Friends of Richmond Park
Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of London's Royal Parks, and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I in the 17th century as a deer par ...
.
Reception
In
The Big Read
The Big Read was a survey on books carried out by the BBC in the United Kingdom in 2003, where over three-quarters of a million votes were received from the British public to find the nation's best-loved novel of all time. The year-long survey wa ...
, a 2003 poll conducted by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, four of Wilson's books were ranked among the 100 most popular books in the UK: ''
''.
Fourteen books by Wilson ranked in the top 200.
as the most borrowed author in Britain's libraries, a position she retained until being overtaken by
in 2008.
. ''The Illustrated Mum'' (1999) won the annual Guardian Prize, a book award judged by a panel of British children's writers,
shortlist. ''The Story of Tracy Beaker'' won the 2002
, and ''Girls in Tears'' was the Children's Book of the Year at the 2003 British Book Awards. Two of her books were "Highly Commended" runners-up for the annual
: ''The Story of Tracy Beaker'' (1991) and ''Double Act'' (1995).