Andy Mulligan is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

writer best known for

young adult fiction Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults. The subject matter and genres of YA correlate ...

. His work is strongly influenced by his experiences working as a volunteer in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

, India, and as an English and drama teacher in Brazil, Vietnam, the Philippines, and the UK

Career

Mulligan's first novel, ''Ribblestrop'', was published by Simon & Schuster in 2009. The story originated "on a walk with a fellow teacher"; they talked about they might turn a particular "ramshackle stately home ... into a thoroughly inappropriate school". His second novel, ''Trash'', is set in the garbage dump of a large unnamed third world city reminiscent of Manila, and features a street child who lives as a

waste picker A waste picker is a person who salvages reusable or recyclable materials thrown away by others to sell or for personal consumption. There are millions of waste pickers worldwide, predominantly in developing countries, but increasingly in post-in ...

. It was shortlisted for one of the annual Blue Peter Book Awards, but dropped "because it contains scenes of violence and swearing that are not suitable for the younger end of" the

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Tel ...

audience. David Fickling, the publisher of ''Trash'', stated that "poor children live a very unpleasant life and to avoid that would be untruthful, and I don't think one should be untruthful to children. You can't make life wonderfully safe and middle-class all over the world." ''Trash'' was later shortlisted for the 2012 CILIP Carnegie Medal. A

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

of ''Trash'' by Working Title Films and PeaPie Films is in development. ''Return to Ribblestrop'' (2011) was the first of two Ribblestrop sequels. Mulligan won the 2011

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 ...

, a once-in-a-lifetime book award judged by a panel of British children's writers. "It is so fresh: the judges loved its anarchy, its good humour, its warm heart and the way it depicted children," according to committee chair

Julia Eccleshare Julia Eccleshare MBE (born 1951) is a British journalist and writer on the subject of children's books. She has been Children's Books editor for ''The Guardian'' newspaper for more than ten years, at least from 2000. She is also an editorial con ...

, children's book editor

Works

*''Ribblestrop'' (Simon & Schuster Children's Books, 2009) *''Trash'' (David Fickling Books, 2010) *''Return to Ribblestrop'' (Simon & Schuster, 2011) *''Ribblestrop Forever!'' (Simon & Schuster, 2012) *''The Boy With Two Heads'' (RHCP Digital, 2013) *''Liquidator'' (David Fickling Books, 2015) *''Rollercoaster:(Adventure Book Box, 2016) *''Dog'' (Pushkin Children's Books, 2017

Awards

* 2011

for ''Return to Ribblestrop'' ''Ribblestrop'' was shortlisted for a Roald Dahl Funny Prize in 2009. ''Trash'' was shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal in 2012.

Notes

References

External links

*
Andy Mulligan
at

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 ...