Jenny Downham (born 1964) is a British novelist and an ex-actress who has published four books.

Career

Her debut novel, ''

Before I Die ''Before I Die'' is a young adult novel written by Jenny Downham, first published by David Fickling Books in 2007. The novel follows the shortly ending life of Tessa, from her perspective. Plot Tessa is diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leuka ...

'', is the fictional account of the last few months of a sixteen-year-old girl who has been dying of

leukaemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

for four years. The book won the 2008

Branford Boase Award The Branford Boase Award is a British literary award presented annually to an outstanding children's or young-adult novel by a first-time writer; "the most promising book for seven year-olds and upwards by a first time novelist." The award is sha ...

. It was short listed for the 2008

Guardian Children's Fiction Prize The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annual recognised one fiction book written for children or young adults (at least age eight) and published in the United Kingdom. It was conferred upon the author ...

and the 2008

Lancashire Children's Book of the Year The Lancashire Book of the Year (previously Lancashire Children's Book of the Year) is an award given to works of children's literature, voted for by a panel of young judges. It was established in 1986 with the first award presented the following ...

and nominated for the 2008 Carnegie Medal and the 2008

Booktrust Teenage Prize The Booktrust Teenage Prize was an annual award given to young adult literature published in the UK. The prize was administered by Book Trust, an independent charity which promotes books and reading. The Booktrust Teenage Prize was last awarded in ...

. In 2012 it was adapted into a film called ''

Now Is Good ''Now Is Good'' is a 2012 teen romantic drama film directed by Ol Parker. Based on Jenny Downham's 2007 novel ''Before I Die'', it was adapted by Parker, who had recently written the screenplay for ''The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel''. The film, ...

'' and starred

Dakota Fanning Hannah Dakota Fanning (born February 23, 1994) is an American actress. She rose to prominence at the age of seven for her performance as Lucy Dawson in the drama film ''I Am Sam'' (2001), for which she received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomina ...

. Downham's second novel, ''

You Against Me In Modern English, ''you'' is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers. History ''You'' comes from the Proto- ...

'', was published in December 2010. The book is a novel about family, loyalty, and the choices which we have to make. Her third novel, '' Unbecoming'', published in 2015, is a story of three generations of women and the uncovering of family secrets. Her fourth, ''Furious Thing'', published in October 2019, was shortlisted in the children's book category of that year's

Costa Book Awards The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...

.iNews
2019-11-26. Retrieved 2019-11-26.

References

External links

Official Website

Works by or about Jenny Downham in libraries (Worldcat catalogue)
Guardian Review

The Times Feature

* 1964 births Living people British women novelists 21st-century British novelists British writers of young adult literature 21st-century British women writers Women writers of young adult literature {{UK-novelist-stub