Malorie Blackman

Malorie Blackman was born on 8 February 1962. While at school, she wanted to be an English teacher but grew up to become a systems programmer instead. She earned a HNC at Thames Polytechnic and is a graduate of the National Film and Television School.

Blackman married her husband Neil in the 1990s and their daughter, Elizabeth was born in 1995. Blackman has described herself, "I'm just Malorie Blackman, a black woman writer." Blackman's first book was 'Not So Stupid', which was a collection of horror and science fiction stories for young adults, published in November 1990. Since then she has written more than sixty children's books, including novels and short story collections, and also television scripts and a stage play.[5][6]

Malorie Blackman holds the position of Children's Laureate for 2013 to 2015. She primarily writes literature and television drama for children and young adults. She has used science fiction to explore social and ethical issues. Her critically and popularly acclaimed Noughts and Crosses series uses the setting of a fictional dystopia to explore racism.

Her work has won more than fifteen awards. Blackman's television scripts include episodes of the long-running children's drama Byker Grove, as well as television adaptations of her novels Whizziwig and Pig-Heart Boy. Her books have been translated into over fifteen languages including Spanish, Welsh, German, Japanese, Chinese and French.