John Brendan Larkin (born 20 April 1963) is an Australian writer. He is best known for ''

The Shadow Girl ''The Shadow Girl'' is a 2011 novel by Australian author John Larkin (author), John Larkin. It was awarded the 2012 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, Victorian Premier's Award for young adult fiction. References

2011 Australian novel ...

'' and '' The Pause'', both published by

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House LLC is an Anglo-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, from the merger of Penguin Group and Random House. On April 2, 2020, Bertels ...

. '' The Pause'' was released in April 2015 and won the Griffith University Young Adult Book Award at the 2015

Queensland Literary Awards The Queensland Literary Awards is an awards program established in 2012 by the Queensland literary community, funded by sponsors and administered by the State Library of Queensland. Like the former Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, the QLAs ...

. ''

2011 Australian novel ...

'' won the 2012 Victorian Premier's Award for young adult fiction.

Life and career

Larkin was born in the mining town of Maltby, then in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

(now

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. His mother, Pat, was also from Maltby and his father Brendan is originally from

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. The family emigrated to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in the late 1960s landing in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

1969. John is the middle child of three. He has an older sister Trish and a younger brother Paul who currently lives in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, although John currently lives in Ireland. Larkin attended Toongabbie Public School and

Pendle Hill High School Pendle Hill High School is a comprehensive, co-educational high school with over 300 students located in Pendle Hill, a suburb in the west of Sydney, Australia. School profile The school is set in a residential area that is slowly undergoing r ...

. He studied English literature at

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of S ...

, and graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

, a

Bachelor of Education A Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) is an undergraduate professional degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools. In some countries such as Tanzania and Kenya, additional tasks like field work and research are required in order for ...

and a master's degree in creative writing. He is now still writing books and also teaches at schools such as Knox Grammar Preparatory School. Larkin has a daughter named Chantelle, who is studying to be a doctor. He also has a son, Damian, who is a lifeguard, firefighter, and in the army reserves.

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Larkin, John 1963 births 21st-century Australian novelists Australian male novelists Australian children's writers Writers from Sydney Living people Macquarie University alumni Australian writers of young adult literature 21st-century Australian male writers