Janni Howker is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

writer of adult and

children's fiction 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 ...

who has

adapted In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...

her own books for the screen. She has worked across the UK running creative writing workshops for adults and children, and is involved in several arts development programmes.

Life

Howker was born in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

to a British military family with

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

roots. She lives in a cottage near the "very remote" Scottish border, and several of her books are set in the region, which she calls "my inspiration". The most important may be ''Martin Farrell'', which features a boy caught in the midst of the bloody feuds of the Border Reivers.

Awards

''The Nature of the Beast'' won the 1985 Whitbread Children's Book Award.(past_winners_complete_list.pdf)
. Section "Whitbread Winners 1971–2005". Costa Book Awards. Retrieved 2013-09-09. For ''The Nature of the Beast'' and again next year for ''Isaac Campion'' in 1986, Howker was a highly commended runner-up for the annual Carnegie Medals from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject. (From 1979 to 2002 the distinction was approximately annual, with 29 high commendations in a 24-year period including Howker alone for both 1985 and 1986.) * International Reading Award * Tom-Gallon Award * Observer Teenage Fiction Award *

Somerset Maugham Award The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each year by the Society of Authors. Set up by William Somerset Maugham in 1947 the awards enable young writers to enrich their work by gaining experience in foreign countries. The awa ...

Works

The U.S. review service '' Kirkus Reviews'' covered at least three of Howker's books (‡). ''Badger on the Barge'' and ''The Topiary Garden'' garnered starred reviews and the service called ''Isaac Campion'' "another glowing novel" and "unforgettable".

Novels

* ''The Nature of the Beast'' (Julia MacRae Books, 1985) * ''Isaac Campion'' (MacRae, 1986)‡ * ''Martin Farrell'' (MacRae, 1994)

Short fiction

* ''Badger on the Barge'' (MacRae, 1984)‡ —collection of five stories (200pp), short-listed for both the Whitbread Children's Book Award and the Carnegie Medal * ''The Topiary Garden'' (MacRae, 1993)‡ —one story from ''Badger on the Barge'', illustrated by Anthony Browne (64pp) * ''Walk with a Wolf'' (Walker, 1997) —children's

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...

illustrated by Sarah Fox-Davies * "Mud" —short story

References

External links

Janni Howker
at

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

Authorities — with 7 catalogue records British children's writers People from Cumbria Living people Alumni of Lancaster University Alumni of Cartmel College, Lancaster Year of birth missing (living people) British women children's writers {{UK-child-writer-stub