Geraldine McCaughrean ( ; born 6 June 1951) is a British children's novelist. She has written more than 170 books, including ''

Peter Pan in Scarlet ''Peter Pan in Scarlet'' (2006) is a novel by British author Geraldine McCaughrean. It is the official sequel to J. M. Barrie's ''Peter and Wendy'' (1911), as it was authorised by Great Ormond Street Hospital, which was granted all rights to the ...

'' (2004), the official sequel to ''

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by List of Scottish novelists, Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and Puer aeternus, never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending ...

'' commissioned by

Great Ormond Street Hospital Great Ormond Street Hospital (informally GOSH or Great Ormond Street, formerly the Hospital for Sick Children) is a children's hospital located in the Bloomsbury area of the London Borough of Camden, and a part of Great Ormond Street Hospital ...

, the holder of Peter Pan's copyright. Her work has been translated into 44 languages worldwide. She has received the Carnegie Medal twice and the

Michael L. Printz Award The Michael L. Printz Award is an American Library Association literary award that annually recognizes the "best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit". It is sponsored by ''Booklist'' magazine; administered by the ALA's y ...

among others.

Career

McCaughrean was born in London and grew up in North London. She was the youngest of three children. She studied teaching but found her true vocation in writing. She claims that what makes her love writing is the desire to escape from an unsatisfactory world. Her motto is: do not write about what you know, write about what you want to know. Her work includes many retellings of classic stories for children: ''

The Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Iliad'', the ...

'', ''

El Cid Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c. 1043 – 10 July 1099) was a Castilian knight and warlord in medieval Spain. Fighting with both Christian and Muslim armies during his lifetime, he earned the Arabic honorific ''al-sīd'', which would evolve into El ...

'', ''

The Canterbury Tales ''The Canterbury Tales'' ( enm, Tales of Caunterbury) is a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. It is widely regarded as Chaucer's ''Masterpiece, ...

'', ''

The Pilgrim's Progress ''The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come'' is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature and a progenitor of ...

'', ''

Moby Dick ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship ''Pequod'', for revenge against Moby Dick, the giant whit ...

'', ''

One Thousand and One Arabian Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...

'' and ''

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''.

J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succe ...

gave all rights to ''

'' to

in 1929, and in 2004, to coincide with ''Peter Pans centenary, the hospital launched a competition to find the author of a sequel. McCaughrean won the competition, after submitting a synopsis and a sample chapter. ''

'' was released internationally on 5 October 2006, published in the UK by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

and in the US by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

. McCaughrean has written many other children's fiction books including ''

The Kite Rider ''The Kite Rider'' is a children's novel by Geraldine McCaughrean. Plot The story, set in 13th-century China, concerns a boy named Gou Haoyou. His father Gou Pei, a seaman, is forced to fly on a wind-testing kite by first mate A chief mate ( ...

'', ''

The Stones Are Hatching ''The Stones Are Hatching'' is a young adult fantasy novel by Geraldine McCaughrean first published in 1999 by Oxford University Press. Plot Eleven-year-old Phelim Green awakes to find his house full of small creatures, led by the Domovoy which ...

'', and ''Plundering Paradise''. She has also written six historical novels for adults including: ''The Maypole'' (1990), ''Fire's Astonishment'' (1991), ''Lovesong'' (1996) and ''The Ideal Wife'' (1997). As of 2013, she has launched an online novel based on the Hylas and Hercules myth,
A Thousand Kinds of Ugly
'.

Awards

For her lifetime contribution as a children's writer McCaughrean was the British nominee in 2004 for the biennial, international

Hans Christian Andersen Award The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are two literary awards given by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), recognising one living author and one living illustrator for their "lasting contribution to children's literature". Th ...

, the highest international recognition available to creators of children's books. She was elected an Honorary Fellow of

Canterbury Christ Church University , mottoeng = The truth shall set you free , established = 2005 – gained University status 1962 – teacher training college , type = Public , religious_affiliation = Church of England , city ...

in 2006 and a Fellow of the

English Association The English Association is a subject association for English dedicated to furthering the study and enjoyment of English language and literature in schools, higher education institutes and amongst the public in general. It was founded in 1906 by ...

in 2010. She is a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

since 2010. McCaughrean has won several annual book awards. For ''A Pack of Lies'', a collection of historical stories in a frame narrative, she won the two most prestigious British children's book awards. The Carnegie Medal, conferred by the

Library Association The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, since 2017 branded CILIP: The library and information association (pronounced ), is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge management, knowle ...

(now CILIP), recognises the year's best children's or young adult's book. The Guardian Prize is a once-in-a-lifetime award judged by a panel of British children's writers and limited to fiction books. * 1987 Whitbread Children's Book Award for ''

A Little Lower Than the Angels A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

'' * 1988 Carnegie Medal for ''

A Pack of Lies ''A Pack of Lies: twelve stories in one'' is a children's novel with metafictional elements, written by Geraldine McCaughrean and published by Oxford in 1988. It features a family antique shop whose new salesman tells historical tales to sell a ...

'' * 1989

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 ...

for ''

'' * 1994 Whitbread Children's Book Award for ''Gold Dust'' * 2000 Blue Peter Book of the Year, the inaugural

Blue Peter Book Award The Blue Peter Book Awards were a set of literary awards for children's books conferred by the BBC television programme '' Blue Peter''. They were inaugurated in 2000 for books published in 1999. The Awards have been managed by reading charity, ...

, for ''

'' retold * 2001 Blue Peter "Best Book to Keep Forever" for ''

'' * 2004 Whitbread Children's Book Award for '' Not the End of the World'' * 2008

, from US librarians for the year's best in young-adult literature, '' The White Darkness'' * 2018 Carnegie Medal for ''

Where the World Ends ''Where the World Ends'' is a 2017 young adult novel by Geraldine McCaughrean and illustrated by Jane Milloy. It won the 2018 Carnegie Medal. Reception ''Where the World Ends'' was positively received by critics, including starred reviews ...

'' * 2018 Independent Bookshop Week Book Award for ''

'' '' Stop the Train'' (Oxford, 2001) was "Highly Commended" for the Carnegie Medal. From 1988 to 2018, McCaughrean has eight times made the Carnegie shortlist and is one of only eight authors to have won it twice since its creation in 1936.

Selected bibliography

*''

'' (1987) *''

'' (1988) l *''Gold Dust'' (1993) *'' Plundering Paradise'' (1996) (US title: ''The Pirate's Son'') *'' Forever X'' (1997) *''

'' (1999) *'' The Great Chase'' (2000) *'' Stop the Train!'' (2001) *''

'' (2001) *'' Showstopper!'' (2003) *'' Smile!'' (2004) *'' Not the End of the World'' (2004) *'' The White Darkness'' (2005) *''

Cyrano Cyrano may refer to: Astronomy * 3582 Cyrano, a small main belt asteroid * Cyrano (crater), a lunar impact crater that lies on the far side of the Moon Stage and film * ''Cyrano'' (Damrosch), a 1913 opera by Walter Damrosch * ''Cyrano'', a 195 ...

'' (2006) *''

'' (2006) *'' Tamburlaine's Elephants'' (2007) *'' The Death-Defying Pepper Roux'' (2009) *'' Pull Out All The Stops!'' (2010) (US title: ''The Glorious Adventures of the Sunshine Queen'') *'' The Positively Last Performance'' (2013) *'' The Middle of Nowhere'' (2013) *''

'' (2017) *'' The Supreme Lie'' (2021)

Notes

References

External links

* * , review of ''Peter Pan in Scarlet'' by Mick Imlah, ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication i ...

'', 25 October 2006 * *
Our Authors, 2
(including McCaughrean) at Romaunce Books, publisher of romantic and historical fiction * {{DEFAULTSORT:McCaughrean, Geraldine British children's writers British fantasy writers British historical novelists British writers of young adult literature Carnegie Medal in Literature winners Costa Book Award winners Guardian Children's Fiction Prize winners Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Michael L. Printz Award winners 1951 births Living people Alumni of Canterbury Christ Church University British women children's writers Women science fiction and fantasy writers Women historical novelists Women writers of young adult literature British women novelists 20th-century British novelists 20th-century British women writers 21st-century British novelists 21st-century British women writers Writers from London Fellows of the English Association