John Brendan Larkin (born 20 April 1963) is an Australian writer. He is best known for '' The Shadow Girl'' and '' The Pause'', both published by

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House Limited is a British-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was or ...

. '' The Pause'' was released in April 2015 and won the Griffith University Young Adult Book Award at the 2015

Queensland Literary Awards The Queensland Literary Awards is an awards program established in 2012 by the Queensland literary community, funded by sponsors and administered by the State Library of Queensland. Like the former Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, the QLAs ...

. '' The Shadow Girl'' won the 2012 Victorian Premier's Award for young adult fiction.

Life and career

Larkin was born in the mining town of Maltby, then in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...

(now

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

), England. His mother, Pat, was also from Maltby and his father Brendan is originally from Ireland. The family emigrated to Australia in the late 1960s landing in Sydney on

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas, the festival commemorating nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. Christmas Day is observance of Christmas by country, observed around the world, and Christma ...

1969. John is the middle child of three. He has an older sister Trish and a younger brother Paul who currently lives in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, although John currently lives in New South Wales. Larkin attended

Toongabbie Toongabbie is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. One of the oldest suburbs in Sydney, Toongabbie is located approximately 30 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the Greater Western ...

Public School and

Pendle Hill High School Pendle Hill High School is a comprehensive, co-educational high school with over 300 students located in Pendle Hill, New South Wales, Pendle Hill, a suburb in the west of Sydney, Australia. School profile The school is set in a residential ar ...

. He studied English literature at

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a Public university, public research university in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the Sydney metropolitan area. ...

, and graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

, a

Bachelor of Education A Bachelor of Education (B.Ed. or BEd) is an undergraduate academic degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools. A Bachelor of Education program typically lasts three to four years and combines both coursework and practical exp ...

and a master's degree in creative writing. He is now still writing books and also teaches at schools such as Knox Grammar Preparatory School,

Abbotsleigh Abbotsleigh is an independent Anglican Pre-school education, early learning, primary, secondary Day school, day, and Boarding school, boarding school for Single-sex school, girls located in Wahroonga, on the Upper North Shore (Sydney), Upper N ...

, and

Ravenswood School for Girls Ravenswood School for Girls (often referred to as Ravenswood or Ravo) is an independent, Uniting Church, day school, day and boarding school for Prep to Year 12 girls, situated in Gordon, New South Wales, Gordon, an North Shore (Sydney), Upper N ...

, being a popular figure among students. Larkin has a daughter named Chantelle, who is currently a doctor working at Westmead Hospital. He also has a son, Damian, who is a lifeguard, firefighter, and in the army reserves.

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Larkin, John 1963 births 21st-century Australian novelists Australian male novelists Australian children's writers Writers from Sydney Living people Macquarie University alumni Australian writers of young adult literature 21st-century Australian male writers