Marcus Sedgwick

• Name — Marcus Sedgwick • Born — 8 April 1968 • Birthplace — Preston, Kent, England • Died — 15 November 2022 • Place of death — France • Education — University of Bath • Genre — Fantasy, science fiction, horror, young adult

Marcus Sedgwick was born 8 April 1968 in Preston, a small village in East Kent, England. He has one brother, Julian, and a half-sister, Ellie. As a child he was shy and recalled being bullied at Sir Roger Manwood's School in Sandwich, Kent an all-boys grammar school. His mother had once worked in Machynlleth at the Centre for Alternative Technology; the area was the setting for Susan Cooper's fantasy series The Dark Rising, and Sedgwick called those books influential for him. He was also influenced by Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast series, which his father had introduced him to. He studied mathematics and politics at the University of Bath. His father died when Sedgwick was twenty years old.[4]

Before becoming a full-time author, Sedgwick worked as a bookseller at Heffers, a children's bookstore, and in sales at children's publishers Ragged Bears and Walker Books. According to The Guardian he began writing "seriously" in 1994. His first book, Floodland, was published in 2000, and it received the Branford Boase Award for the best debut children's novel of that year. Floodland tells the story of Zoe, who lives on her own on an island that used to be part of England before global warming caused the seas to rise. Publishers Weekly said that "Despite some page-turning chapters, Zoe and her story lack the credibility to sustain readers through the contradictory themes and sometimes unimaginative prose."[5] Alternative Magazine said it was "a stunning debut novel that precluded more literary brilliance to follow."[6] Dark Horse (2001) was shortlisted for several awards. My Swordhand Is Singing (2006) won a Booktrust Teenage Prize. In 2013 he released Dark Satanic Mills, a graphic novel written in conjunction with his brother Julian Sedgwick and illustrated by John Higgins. His 2015 book The Ghosts of Heaven, a work of young adult fiction consisting of four loosely connected parts combined into an "intriguing" novel, according to Sarah McCarry writing for The New York Times.[7] He won numerous awards for his writing, most notably the Michael L. Printz Award in 2011 for Revolver, 2014 for Midwinter Blood, and 2016 for The Ghosts of Heaven. At the time of his death he was the most-nominated author for America's most prestigious book prize for writing for young adults. In addition to writing, Sedgwick worked on film and book projects with his brother Julian. He was represented by RCW Literary Agency. Sedgwick taught creative writing at Bath Spa University as a writer in residence from 2011 through 2014 and wrote reviews for the Guardian newspaper.

Sedgwick was married and divorced three times. He had a daughter, Alice, with his first wife Kate Agnew. In addition to drawing and writing, Sedgwick played the drums and was an avid music lover. Some of his favorite writers include Susan Cooper, Thomas Mann and Arthur Schnitzler.[11] In 2014, Sedgwick was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis. After his diagnosis, he moved to the French Alps and then to Dordogne. His final work before his death was the nonfiction book All In Your Head: What Happens When Your Doctor Doesn’t Believe You? Sedgwick died in France on 15 November 2022, at the age of 54.[12][13]

• Floodland (Delacorte Press, 2000) • The Dark Horse (Wendy Lamb Books, 2001) • The Foreshadowing (Orion Children's Books, 2005) • Blood Red, Snow White (Orion Children's Books, 2007) • Revolver (Orion, 2009) • White Crow (Orion, 2010) • Midwinterblood (Indigo, 2011) • She Is Not Invisible (Orion Children's Books, 2013) • The Ghosts of Heaven (Roaring Brook Press, 2015) • Killing the Dead (Indigo, 2015) • Saint Death (Orion Children's Books, 2016) • Snowflake, AZ (Norton Young Readers, 2019) • Dark Peak (Oxford University Press, 2021) • Wrath (Barrington Stoke, 2022)

• The Book of Dead Days (Orion, 2003) • The Dark Flight Down (Orion Children's Books, 2004) ã

• My Swordhand Is Singing (Orion Children's Books, 2006) • The Kiss of Death (Orion Children's Books, 2008)

• Food and Fang (Orion Children's Books, 2009)[15] • Ghosts and Gadgets (Orion Children's Books, 2009) • Lunatics and Luck (Orion Children's Books, 2010) • Vampires and Volts (Orion Children's Books, 2010) • Magic and Mayhem (Orion Children's Books, 2011) • Diamond and Doom (Orion Children's Books, 2011)

• Cudweed's Birthday (Hachette Children's Group, 2011) • Cudweed in Outer Space (Hachette Children's Group, 2012) • Cudweed's Time Machine (Hachette Children's Group, 2013)

• Fright Forest (Orion Children's Books, 2012) • Monster Mountains (Hachette Children's Group, 2012) • Scream Sea (Orion Children's Books, 2013) • Dread Desert (Hachette Children's Group, 2013) • Terror Town (Hachette Children's Group, 2014) • Creepy Caves (Orion Children's Books, 2015)

• Dark Satanic Mills with Julian Sedgwick. Illustrated by Marc Olivent and John Higgins (Walker Books, 2013) • Scarlett Hart: Monster Hunter (First Second Books, 2018) • Voyages in the Underworld of Orpheus Black with Julian Sedgwick. (Walker Books, 2019)

• A Love Like Blood (Pegasus Books, 2015) • Mister Memory (Mulholland Books, 2016) • The Monsters We Deserve (Zephyr, 2018)

• Cowards: The True Story of the Men Who Refused to Fight, London (Hodder Children's Books, 2003) • Snow. Illustrated by Marcus Sedgwick (Little Toller Books, 2016) • Be the Change – Be Calm: Rise Up and Don’t Let Anxiety Hold You Back (Summersdale, 2022) • All In Your Head: What Happens When Your Doctor Doesn’t Believe You? (Bennion Kearny Limited, 2022)

• "bad language" in Thirteen (Orchard Books, 2005) • "The Heart of Another" in The Restless Dead: Ten Original Stories of the Supernatural. Deborah Noyes, editor. (Candlewick Press, 2007) • "The Spear of Destiny" in Doctor Who: Eleven Doctors, Eleven Stories. (Puffin, 2013) • "Don't Call It Glory" in The Great War: Stories Inspired by Items from the First World War (Candlewick Press, 2015) • "If Only in My Dreams" in I'll Be Home for Christmas (Stripes Publishing, 2016) • "Together We Win". 10 Stories to Make a Difference. Daniel Ido, illustrator. (PopUp Projects, 2021)

• Witch Hill (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2001) • A Winter's Tale. Illustrated by Simon Bartram. (Templar, 2003)

• A Christmas Wish (Dutton, Penguin, 2003) • The Emperor's New Clothes. Jay Alison, illustrator (Chronicle Books, 2004)