Mark Haddon

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox writer Mark Haddon (born 26 September 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, the Guardian Prize, and a Commonwealth Writers' Prize 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 Commonwealth Writers' Prize in the Best First Book category, as The Curious Incident was considered his first book written for adults.<ref name=powells/> Despite being categorized as an adult book for some awards, Haddon also won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 2003 for the book.<ref name=prize2003/> The book was also long-listed for the 2003 Man Booker Prize. <ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It was adapted as a stage play and was successful for a long run.

The Curious Incident is written from the perspective of a 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).<ref name="powells">Dave (10 October 2006), "The curiously irresistible literary debut of Mark Haddon", Powells.com. Retrieved 31 August 2011.</ref> However, it has also been criticised by some autistic readers who objected to its 'depressing' depiction of Christopher, the autistic protagonist.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Haddon's short story "The Pier Falls" was longlisted for the 2015 Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award, the richest prize in the world for a single short story.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He published a collection of short stories inspired by classical mythology called Dogs and Monsters in 2024.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2023, he turned down an OBE for his services to literature, saying: 'I would feel uneasy accepting an honour which presumes an uncritical acceptance of the British Empire as a good thing.'<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal life

Haddon is a vegetarian. He describes himself as a "hard-line atheist".<ref name="Times Online">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="The Observer">Template:Cite news</ref> In 2019, he had heart bypass surgery. Later he contracted COVID-19 and, as he recovered, was diagnosed with long COVID. He has struggled with "brain fog" that left him unable to read or write. In 2024 he spoke to The Guardian about his five-year-long process of partial recovery, saying that although he still could not read properly, the fog was "starting to thin a little".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Haddon lives in Oxford with his wife Sos Eltis, a Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, and their two sons.<ref name="Times Online"/>

Works

For children

• 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 short story, 2020)<ref>Template:Cite news

</ref>

• Dogs and Monsters (2024)

Poetry

• The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea 2007

Play

• Polar Bears (2010)

External links

• Template:Official website
• Template:British council
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• Mark Haddon discussed the rituals and processes that guides his work.
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (official)
• A Spot of Bother (official)
• Interview: Coming Down the Mountain
• Freeman, Hadley. "Novelist Mark Haddon talks to Hadley Freeman", The Guardian (London), 29 May 2006. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
• Haddon, Mark. "Writers' rooms: Mark Haddon", The Guardian (London), 29 June 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2011.