Andy Mulligan is a British writer best known for

young adult fiction Young adult literature (YA) is typically written for readers aged 12 to 18 and includes most of the themes found in adult fiction, such as family dysfunction, substance abuse, alcoholism, and sexuality. It is characterized by simpler world build ...

. Raised in South London, he worked as a theatre director for ten years before retraining as a teacher. His teaching career took him to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

the Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of 7,641 islands, with a total area of roughly 300,000 square kilometers, which ar ...

, and

the UK The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, experiences that have strongly influenced his writing. He has been married to Anne Robinson since their elopement in 2015. He now divides his time between

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

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 Street children are poor or homeless children who live on the streets of a city, town, or village. Homeless youth are often called street kids, or urchins; the definition of street children is contested, but many practitioners and policymakers ...

who lives as a

waste picker A waste picker also known as waste collector or garbage collector 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 ...

. It was shortlisted for one of the annual

Blue Peter Book Award The Blue Peter Book Awards were a set of literary awards for children's books conferred by the BBC television programme ''Blue Peter''. They were inaugurated in 2000 for books published in 1999 and 2000. The awards were managed by reading charity ...

s, 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 ...

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 The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP, pronounced ) is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge management, knowledge managers in the United Kingdom. It was established in 20 ...

Carnegie Medal. A film adaptation of ''Trash'' directed by

Stephen Daldry Stephen David Daldry Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 2 May 1960) is an English director and producer of film, theatre, and television. He has won three Tony Awards for his work on Broadway theatre, Broadway and an Olivie ...

was released in 2014. ''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 annually recognised one fiction book written for Children's literature, children or young adults (at least age eight) and published in the United Kingdom. It was conf ...

, 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 was Children's Books editor for ''The Guardian'' newspaper for more than ten years, at least from 2000, until 2016. She is also an edito ...

, 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

Carnegie Medal in 2012.

Notes

References

External links

*
Andy Mulligan
at

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...