Mark Haddon

Mark Haddon
Born	28 October 1962 (1962-10-28) (age 49) Northampton
Occupation	Novelist
Genres	Children's literature, Poetry, Screenplay, Radio drama
Spouse(s)	Dr. Sos Eltis
markhaddon.com

Mark Haddon (born 28 October 1962) is an English novelist and poet, best known for his 2003 novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Life and work

Haddon was born in 1962 in Northampton and educated at Uppingham School and Merton College, Oxford, where he studied English language. Afterward, he was employed in several different occupations. One included working with people and children with disabilities, and another included creating illustrations and cartoons for magazines and newspapers. (Holcombe) He lived in Boston for a year with his wife until they moved back to England. Then, Mark took up painting and selling abstract art. (Random House) Mark had a studio on the ground floor of his house; he thought that it looked like a primary school library on the inside. This is appropriate, however, considering that Haddon’s work is a self-proclaimed “distillation of all that was best about school.” (Haddon)

Another important aspect of Mark Haddon’s life is his work as an author. In 1987, Haddon wrote his first children’s book, Gilbert’s Gobstopper. This was followed by many other children’s books, which were oftentimes self-illustrated.

In 2003, Haddon won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award and in 2004, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize Overall Best First Book for his novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, a book which is written from the perspective of a boy with Asperger syndrome. However, Haddon has stated on his website that he knows "very little about the subject", and that he "slightly regret[s]" that the term "Asperger syndrome" appeared on the cover of his book. Moreover, he had done no research about autism before writing the novel. Rather, he recommends that one read works by people who have Asperger syndrome themselves.^[1] 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.^[2] His second adult novel, A Spot of Bother, was published in September 2006.

Mark Haddon is also known for his series of Agent Z books, one of which, Agent Z and the Penguin from Mars, was made into a 1996 Children's BBC sitcom. He also wrote the screenplay for the BBC television adaptation of Raymond Briggs's story Fungus the Bogeyman, screened on BBC1 in 2004. In 2007 he wrote the BBC television drama Coming Down the Mountain.

Haddon is a vegetarian, and enjoys vegetarian cookery. He describes himself as a 'hard-line atheist'.^[3] In an interview with The Observer, Haddon said "I am atheist in a very religious mould".^[4] His atheism might be inferred from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time in which the main character declares that those who believe in God are stupid.

In 2009, he donated the short story The Island to Oxfam's 'Ox-Tales' project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Haddon's story was published in the 'Fire' collection.^[5]

Mark Haddon lives in Oxford with his wife Dr. Sos Eltis, a Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, and their two young sons.^[3]

Bibliography

Youth titles

• Gilbert's Gobstopper (1987)
• Mikie Joy
• 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 Phillips (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)
• Boom! (2009)

For adults

• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (2003)
• A Spot of Bother (2006)

Poetry

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

References

1. ^ Mark Haddon: Aspergers and autism
2. ^ "The curiously irresistible literary debut of Mark Haddon '", Powells.com. URL last accessed 31 Aug 2011
3. ^ ^{a b} "'Inside a curious mind'", Times Online. URL last accessed 11 May 2008
4. ^ "'B is for bestseller'", The Observer. URL last accessed 11 May 2008
5. ^ Oxfam: Ox-Tales

• Holcombe, Garan. "Mark Haddon." Contemporary Writers. British Council, 2004. Web. 31 May 2011. <http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth3e38026813f8c194e5nnw1cf3087>.
• Random House, . "Author Profiles - Mark Haddon."Jubilee Books. Jubilee Books, Aug 2003. Web. 31 May 2011 <http://www.jubileebooks.co.uk/jubilee/magazine/authors/mark_haddon/haddon_profile.asp>.
• Haddon, Mark. "Writers' rooms: Mark Haddon."Guardian.co.uk. Guardian News and Media Limited, 29 Jun 2007. Web. 31 May 2011. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/jun/29/writers.rooms.mark.haddon>.
• Freeman, Hadley. "Novelist Mark Haddon talks to Hadley Freeman." Guardian.co.uk. Guardian News and Media Limited, 29 May 2006. Web. 31 May 2011. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2006/may/29/hayfestival2006.hayfestival>.

External links

• Mark Haddon's website
• Mark Haddon at Contemporary Writers
• Mark Haddon at the Internet Movie Database
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time website
• The Official A Spot of Bother Website (UK)
• Mark Haddon interview: Coming Down the Mountain

Persondata
Name	Haddon, Mark
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	26 September 1962
Place of birth	Northampton
Date of death
Place of death