UNITED KINGDOM AUTHOR · CHILDREN · FICTION
David Almond
David John Almond was born May 15, 1951 and is a British author who has written many novels for children and young adults from 1998, each one receiving critical acclaim. He is one of thirty children's writers, and one of three from the UK, to win the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award. For the 70th anniversary of the British Carnegie Medal in 2007, his debut novel Skellig (1998) was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works, selected by a panel to compose the ballot for a public election of the all-time favourite. It ranked third in the public vote from that shortlist.
I FOUND HIM IN THE GARAGE ON A Sunday afternoon.
— from Skellig
Most acclaimed
Skellig
Ten-year-old Michael was looking forward to moving into a new house. But now his baby sister is ill, his parents are frantic, and Doctor Death has come to call. Michael feels helpless. Then he steps into the crumbling garage. . . . What is this thing beneath the spiders' webs and dead flies? A human being, or a strange kind of beast never before seen? The only person Michael can confide in is his new friend, Mina. Together, they carry the creature out into the light, and Michael's world changes forever...
The Savage
She is 17 year old Summer Weston, a willful Texas beauty who commands the attention of every eligible male in the county...including one notorious loner no lady would dare consider. He is 22 year old Lance Calder, half-white, half-Comanche--proud, passionate...and forbidden. Yet 5 years later he is Summer's only hope of rescuing her sister, kidnapped in a Comanche raid. Aching to possess the ravishing belle, Lance sets an impossible price on his aid--marriage to a half-breed. Desperate and terrified, yet drawn to the savage who claims her as his wife, Summer is stunned by his raw sensuality, both fierce and tender. Shunned by her own people, she travels with him into the dangerous land of the Comanches...daring to trust the hostile stranger whose pride keeps him distant...until the white-hot fire of their passion destroys all boundaries and brands their very souls with enduring love.
Two Plays
David Almond turns his talents to drama in these two plays. Skellig is the dramatization of his highly acclaimed novel. What has Michael found in the derelict garage? What is this creature that lies in the darkness? Is it human, or a strange beast never seen before? And what will happen in the world when he carries it out into the light? Wild Girl, Wild Boy is an original play produced in London by the Pop-Up Theatre company. Young Elaine has recently lost her father, and now she spends her days dreaming in the family's garden, skipping school, unable to read or write. One day, Elaine conjures up a Wild Boy from spells and fairy seed. No one else can see him, and Elaine disappears into a world of fantasy where she and Wild Boy remember the teachings of her father. Will her mother ever come to understand? These two plays introduce a new talent from the remarkable David Almond.