Melvin Burgess

Melvin Burgess (born 25 April 1954) is a British writer of children's fiction. He became famous in 1996 with the publication of '' Junk'', about heroin-addicted teenagers on the streets of Bristol. In Britain, ''Junk'' became one of the best-known young adult books of the decade. Burgess won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British author. For the 10th anniversary in 2007 it was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works, selected by a panel to compose the ballot for a public election of the all-time favourite.

Early life

Burgess was born in the Municipal Borough of Twickenham, Middlesex, England (now administered as part of Greater London).

Author

He completed his first book accepted for publication in his mid-thirties: a novel, ''The Cry of the Wolf'', published by Andersen Press in 1990, which was highly commended by librarians for the Carnegie Medal, which Gillian Cross won for ''Wolf''. Cross features a girl and a metaphorical wolf, the characters being the last grey wolf in Britain.

Andersen published all of Burgess' books until the mid-1990s. ''The Baby and Fly Pie'' (1993) was another highly commended runner-up for the Carnegie Medal, a distinction that was roughly annual.

''Junk'' won the 1996 Carnegie Medal and also the annual Guardian Children's Fiction Prize judged by a panel of British children's writers, which ''The Guardian'' confers only once upon any author. Burgess is one of six authors, all 1967 to 1996, who won the Carnegie Medal for their Guardian Prize-winning books.

''Kite'' (1997) features a boy who hatches a red kite egg.

Burgess again attracted controversy in 2003, with the publication of '' Doing It'', which dealt with underage sex. In the U.S. it was adapted as a television series, '' Life as We Know It''.

In other books such as '' The Ghost Behind the Wall'' (2000), Burgess has dealt with less realist and sometimes fantastic themes. '' Bloodtide'' (1999) and ''Bloodsong'' (2007) are post-apocalypse adaptations of '' Volsunga Saga''.

In 2001 Burgess wrote the novelisation of the film ''Billy Elliot'', based on Lee Hall's screenplay.

Style

Polyphony is a narrative technique used in many of his best known novels.

Works

Novels

*''The Cry of the Wolf'' (Andersen Press, 1990)
* ''An Angel for May'' (Andersen, 1992)
* ''Burning Issy'' (Andersen, 1992)
* '' The Baby and Fly Pie'' (Andersen, 1993)
* ''Loving April'' (Andersen, 1995)
* ''The Earth Giant'' (Andersen, 1995)
* '' Junk'' (Andersen, 1996), also ''Smack'' in the U.S. —winner of the Carnegie Medal and Guardian Prize
* ''Tiger, Tiger'' (Andersen, 1996)
* ''Kite'' (Andersen, 1997)
* ''The Copper Treasure'' (A & C Black, 1998)
* '' Bloodtide'' (Andersen, 1999)
* ''Old Bag'' (Barrington Stoke, 1999)
* ''The Birdman'' (Andersen, 2000)
* '' The Ghost Behind the Wall'' (Andersen, 2000)
* ''Billy Elliot'' (Chicken House Publishing, 2001), a novelisation of the movie ''Billy Elliot'' (2000)
* ''Lady: My Life as a Bitch'' (Andersen, 2001)
* '' Doing It'' (Andersen, 2003)
* ''Robbers on the Road'' (Black, 2003)
* ''Sara's Face'' (Andersen, 2006)
* ''Bloodsong'' (Penguin Books, 2011)
* ''The Hit'' (Chicken House, 2013)

Short stories

* ''AD 1000'' (in ''Just in Time: Stories to Mark the Millennium'', Puffin, 1999)

Television work

*Autumn 2009 – ''The Well'' – BBC Switch/Lime Pictures

See also

* Realism

Notes

References

External links

*

Melvin Burgess
at Andersen Press
*
*

Interview with Burgess about 'Doing It'
(select from menu at left)

"Whose Face Do You See?"
a short story by Burgess at Scottish Book Trust
*

"Melvin Burgess: the author of Junk talks money"
interview with the ''Telegraph'', 12 June 2011

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burgess, Melvin
1954 births
Living people
20th-century British novelists
21st-century British novelists
British children's writers
Carnegie Medal in Literature winners
Guardian Children's Fiction Prize winners