Mark Haddon (born 28 October 1962) is an English novelist, best known for '' The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'' (2003). He won the Whitbread Award, the Dolly Gray Children's Literature Award, Guardian Prize, and a

Commonwealth Writers Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

for his work.

Life, work and studies

In 2003, Haddon won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award—in the Novels rather than Children's Books category—for '' The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time''. He also won the

in the Best First Book category, as ''The Curious Incident'' was considered his first book written for adults; he also won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a once-in-a-lifetime award judged by a panel of children's writers. The book was furthermore long listed for the 2003 Man Booker Prize. ''The Curious Incident'' is written from the perspective of an autistic 15-year-old boy, Christopher John Francis Boone. In an interview at Powells.com, Haddon claimed that this was the first book that he wrote intentionally for an adult audience; he was surprised when his publisher suggested marketing it to both adult and child audiences (it has been very successful with adults and children alike).The curiously irresistible literary debut of Mark Haddon '
, ''Powells.com''. Retrieved 31 August 2011. His short story "The Pier Falls" was longlisted for the 2015

Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award The Sunday Times Short Story Award is a British literary award for a single short story open to any novelist or short story writer from around the world who is published in the UK or Ireland. The winner receives £30,000, and the five shortliste ...

, the richest prize in the world for a single short story.

Personal life

Haddon is a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...

. He describes himself as a "hard-line atheist."'Inside a curious mind'
''The Times''. Retrieved 11 May 2008.
''The Observer''. Retrieved 11 May 2008. Haddon lives in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

with his wife

Sos Eltis Sos Eltis is Fellow and Tutor in English at Brasenose College, Oxford. She is a nineteenth- and twentieth-century specialist, with a special interest in theatre. she is also Vice-Principal of the College. Eltis is the author of ''Revising Wild ...

, a Fellow of

Brasenose College Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the m ...

, Oxford, and their two sons.

Works

*''Gilbert's Gobstopper'' (1987) *''Toni and the Tomato Soup'' (1988) *''A Narrow Escape for Princess Sharon'' (1989) *'' Agent Z Meets the Masked Crusader'' (1993) *''Titch Johnson, Almost World Champion'' (1993) *'' Agent Z Goes Wild'' (1994) **''At Home'' **''At Playgroup'' **''In the Garden'' **''On Holiday'' *'' Gridzbi Spudvetch!'' (1992) *''The Real Porky Philips'' (1994) *'' Agent Z and the Penguin from Mars'' (1995) *''The Sea of Tranquility'' (1996) *''Secret Agent Handbook'' *'' Agent Z and the Killer Bananas'' (2001) *'' Ocean Star Express'' (2001) *'' The Ice Bear's Cave'' (2002) *'' The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'' (2003) *'' Boom! (An improved version of Gridzbi Spudvetch)'' (2009)

For adults

*'' The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'' (2003) *'' A Spot of Bother'' (2006) *'' The Red House'' (2012) *'' The Pier Falls'' (2016) *'' The Porpoise'' (2019) *''Social Distance'' (graphic novel, 2020)

Poetry

* '' The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea''

Play

*''

Polar Bears The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear specie ...

'' (2010)

References

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' (London), 29 June 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2011. * Freeman, Hadley
"Novelist Mark Haddon talks to Hadley Freeman"
''

'' (London), 29 May 2006. Retrieved 31 May 2011. {{DEFAULTSORT:Haddon, Mark 1962 births Living people 20th-century English male writers 20th-century English novelists 21st-century English male writers 21st-century English novelists Alumni of Merton College, Oxford British republicans British social commentators Costa Book Award winners English atheists English children's writers English male novelists English male screenwriters English screenwriters Guardian Children's Fiction Prize winners New Statesman people People educated at Uppingham School People from Northampton O. Henry Award winners