Marcus Sedgwick (8 April 1968 – 15 November 2022) was a British writer and illustrator. He authored several young adult and children's books and picture books, a work of nonfiction and several novels for adults, and illustrated a collection of myths and a book of folk tales for adults.
His novel Floodland (2001) won the Branford Boase Award and The Dark Horse (2002) was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. The first U.S. edition of his 2011 novel Midwinterblood won the 2014 Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association.
Early life
Marcus Sedgwick was born 8th April 1968 in Preston, a small village in East
Kent, England.
He has one brother, Julian, and a half-sister, Ellie.
As a child he was shy and recalled being bullied at Sir Roger Manwood's School in Sandwich, Kent an all-boys
grammar school.
His mother had once worked in Machynlleth at the Centre for Alternative Technology; the area was the setting for Susan Cooper's fantasy series The Dark Rising, and Sedgwick called those books influential for him.
He studied mathematics and politics at the University of Bath.
Career
Before becoming a full-time author, Sedgwick worked as a bookseller at Heffers, a children's bookstore, and in sales at children's publishers Ragged Bears and Walker Books.
According to
The Guardian he began writing "seriously" in 1994.
His first book, Floodland, was published in 2000, and it received the Branford Boase Award for the best debut children's novel of that year.
Dark Horse (2001) was shortlisted for several awards.
In 2013 he released Dark Satanic Mills, a graphic novel written in conjunction with his brother Julian Sedgwick and illustrated by John Higgins.
He won numerous awards for his writing, most notably the Michael L. Printz Award in 2011 for Revolver, 2014 for Midwinter Blood, and 2016 for The Ghosts of Heaven.
Sedgwick taught creative writing at Bath Spa University as a writer in residence from 2011 through 2014 and wrote reviews for the Guardian newspaper.
Reception
Kirkus Reviews, in reviewing his 2016
Saint Death, called out Sedgwick's "characteristic precision of English prose".
According to
The Guardian, after the 2006 appearance of
My Swordhand Is Singing, his works were "regularly on the shortlist for every major award for his subsequent titles", and although seldom receiving major awards were "always critically acclaimed, much admired by other writers and popular with readers".
Awards
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2001 Branford Boase Award – Floodland
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2001 Edgar Awards nomination – Witch Hill
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2007 North East Teenage Book Award – The Foreshadowing
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2007 Portsmouth Book Award – The Foreshadowing
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2007 Booktrust Teenage Prize – My Swordhand Is Singing
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2007 Renfrewshire Book Award – My Swordhand Is Singing
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2011 Blue Peter Book Award (Best Book with Pictures) – Lunatics and Luck
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2011 Michael L. Printz Award – Revolver
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2013 Rotherham Book Awards (Lower Age Category) – Fright Forest
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2014 Michael L. Printz Award – Midwinterblood
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2015 Essex Book Award – She Is Not Invisible
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2015 Oxfordshire Book Award – She Is Not Invisible
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2015 Rib Valley Book Award – She Is Not Invisible
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2015 Spellbinding Book Award – She Is Not Invisible
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2016 Michael L. Printz Award – The Ghosts of Heaven
Personal life
Sedgwick was married and divorced three times.
He had a daughter, Alice, with his first wife Kate Agnew.
In addition to drawing and writing, Sedgwick played the drums and was an avid music lover.
In 2014, Sedgwick was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis.[ ]
Publications
Young adult novels
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Floodland (Delacorte Press, 2000)
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The Dark Horse (Wendy Lamb Books, 2001)
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The Foreshadowing (Orion Children's Books, 2005)
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Blood Red, Snow White (Orion Children's Books, 2007)
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Revolver (Orion, 2009)
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White Crow (Orion, 2010)
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Midwinterblood (Indigo, 2011)
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She Is Not Invisible (Orion Children's Books, 2013)
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The Ghosts of Heaven (Roaring Brook Press, 2015)
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Killing the Dead (Indigo, 2015)
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Saint Death (Orion Children's Books, 2016)
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Snowflake, AZ (Norton Young Readers, 2019)
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Dark Peak (Oxford University Press, 2021)
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Wrath (Barrington Stoke, 2022)
Dead Days
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The Book of Dead Days (Orion, 2003)
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The Dark Flight Down (Orion Children's Books, 2004) ã
Swordhand
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My Swordhand Is Singing (Orion Children's Books, 2006)
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The Kiss of Death (Orion Children's Books, 2008)
Children's books
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Witch Hill (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2001)
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A Winter's Tale. Illustrated by Simon Bartram. (Templar, 2003)
Raven Mysteries
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Food and Fang (Orion Children's Books, 2009)
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Ghosts and Gadgets (Orion Children's Books, 2009)
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Lunatics and Luck (Orion Children's Books, 2010)
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Vampires and Volts (Orion Children's Books, 2010)
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Magic and Mayhem (Orion Children's Books, 2011)
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Diamond and Doom (Orion Children's Books, 2011)
Cudweed
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Cudweed's Birthday (Hachette Children's Group, 2011)
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Cudweed in Outer Space (Hachette Children's Group, 2012)
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Cudweed's Time Machine (Hachette Children's Group, 2013)
Elf Girl and Raven Boy
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Fright Forest (Orion Children's Books, 2012)
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Monster Mountains (Hachette Children's Group, 2012)
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Scream Sea (Orion Children's Books, 2013)
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Dread Desert (Hachette Children's Group, 2013)
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Terror Town (Hachette Children's Group, 2014)
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Creepy Caves (Orion Children's Books, 2015)
Picture books
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A Christmas Wish (Dutton, Penguin, 2003)
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The Emperor's New Clothes. Jay Alison, illustrator (Chronicle Books, 2004)
Graphic novels
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Dark Satanic Mills with Julian Sedgwick. Illustrated by Marc Olivent and John Higgins (Walker Books, 2013)
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Scarlett Hart: Monster Hunter (First Second Books, 2018)
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Voyages in the Underworld of Orpheus Black with Julian Sedgwick . (Walker Books, 2019)
Adult novels
Nonfiction
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Cowards: The True Story of the Men Who Refused to Fight, London (Hodder Children's Books, 2003)
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Snow. Illustrated by Marcus Sedgwick (Little Toller Books, 2016)
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Be the Change – Be Calm: Rise Up and Don’t Let Anxiety Hold You Back (Summersdale, 2022)
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All In Your Head: What Happens When Your Doctor Doesn’t Believe You? (Bennion Kearny Limited, 2022)
Short stories and novellas
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"bad language" in Thirteen (Orchard Books, 2005)
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"The Heart of Another" in The Restless Dead: Ten Original Stories of the Supernatural. Deborah Noyes, editor. (Candlewick Press, 2007)
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"The Spear of Destiny" in Doctor Who: Eleven Doctors, Eleven Stories. (Puffin Books, 2013)
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"Don't Call It Glory" in The Great War: Stories Inspired by Items from the First World War (Candlewick Press, 2015)
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"If Only in My Dreams" in I'll Be Home for Christmas (Stripes Publishing, 2016)
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"Together We Win". 10 Stories to Make a Difference. Daniel Ido, illustrator. (PopUp Projects, 2021)
As illustrator
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Outremer: Jaufré Rudel and the Countess of Tripoli – A Legend of the Crusades. Nick Riddle, editor . (Fisher King, 1993)
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Counsel, June. Once upon Our Time (Glyndley Books, 2000)
External links
