Almond, David (1951- ) children's and young adult writer, short story writer, novelist

Born on May 15, 1951, in the small mining town of Felling-on-Tyne (near Newcastle), David Almond knew from a very early age that he wanted to become a writer. He attended the University of East Anglia, where he studied English and American literature, then trained to become a teacher at Newcastle Polytechnic. He began publishing his first adult stories while he worked as a secondary school teacher for five years, then quit his job, sold his house, and moved to a remote Norfolk artists’ commune to concentrate on his writing.

While at the commune for a year, he wrote more stories that formed the basis of his first short story collection, Sleepless Nights (1985). Almond moved to Newcastle and began teaching children with special needs part time while he continued to write. He produced a second volume of literary short stories, A Kind of Heaven, in 1997.

However, it was his children’s book Skellig, published the following year, that established him as a significant literary figure. It won both the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children’s Book Award, and its best-selling status allowed Almond to devote himself to writing full time. This breakthrough came only after 15 years of writing with little public acclaim; as Almond has said of the novel’s success, “When Skellig came, it really was as if somebody said: Oh, here, you’ve been working hard for a long time. Have this. It was like a gift for all that work.”

Skellig is about a mysterious creature who appears part human, part bird, and who might in fact be an angel. Michael, a 10-year-old who has recently moved to the north of England, discovers the mysterious and ambiguously ill Skellig in the garage of his new house. Along with his new friend Mina, he tries to nurse Skellig back to health. Though the novel ends without total resolution, the resonant power of its story made it an instant success.

In many ways Skellig showcases Almond’s approach to fiction. “I’m a realist,” Almond has commented. “My books are very realistic. I suppose what they do maybe tend towards is to show how extraordinary the world can be. Especially for children.” His other highly regarded children’s books, which include Kit’s Wilderness (1999), Heaven Eyes (2000), and The Fire-Eaters (2003) (another Whitbread winner), feature children in realistic situations facing realistic problems who are helped in some way by mysterious, fantastic forces. In this way Almond offers real worlds that include inherent touches of the magical and extraordinary. Almond has won numerous other awards for these books.

Other Works by David Almond:
- Clay. New York: Delacorte Press, 2006.
- Counting Stars. New York: Delacorte Press, 2002. Kate, the Cat and the Moon. New York: Random House, 2005.
- Secret Heart. New York: Delacorte Press, 2002.
- Two Plays. New York: Delacorte Press, 2005.

Works about David Almond:
- Almond, David. “Biography.” Author’s Web site. Available online. URL: http://www.davidalmond. com/author/bio.html. Accessed December 7, 2007.
- Latham, Don. David Almond: Memory and Magic. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2006.
- Richards, Linda. Interview with author. Available online. URL: http://www.januarymagazine.com/ profiles/almond.html. Accessed December 7, 2007.