Janni Howker is a British writer of adult and children's fiction who has adapted 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 to a British military family with Lancashire roots. She lives in a cottage near the "very remote"

Scottish border The Anglo-Scottish border () is a border separating Scotland and England which runs for between Marshall Meadows Bay on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west. The surrounding area is sometimes referred to as "the Borderlands". The ...

, 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 Border reivers were Cattle raiding, raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. They included both Scotland, Scottish and England, English people, and they raided the entire border ...

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 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 ...

, recognising the year's best children's book by a

British subject The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...

. (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

Works

The U.S. review service ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' 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 The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...

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

References

External links

Janni Howker
at Library of Congress 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