Mal Peet

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English writer and illustrator (1947–2015)

title: "Mal Peet" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1947-births", "2015-deaths", "english-children's-writers", "deaths-from-cancer-in-england", "carnegie-medal-in-literature-winners", "guardian-children's-fiction-prize-winners", "british-writers-of-young-adult-literature", "alumni-of-the-university-of-warwick", "people-from-north-walsham", "people-educated-at-paston-college"] description: "English writer and illustrator (1947–2015)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mal_Peet" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary English writer and illustrator (1947–2015) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox writer"]

FieldValue
nameMal Peet
captionBritish author Mal Peet
birth_date5 October 1947
birth_placeNorth Walsham, Norfolk, England
death_date
occupationWriter, illustrator
period2003–2015
genreYoung adult historical fiction; children's picture books
notableworks{{plainlist
awards
::

| name = Mal Peet | image = | image_size = | caption = British author Mal Peet | birth_date = 5 October 1947 | birth_place = North Walsham, Norfolk, England | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Writer, illustrator | nationality = | period = 2003–2015 | genre = Young adult historical fiction; children's picture books | notableworks = {{plainlist| Keeper

Malcolm Charles Peet (5 October 1947 – 2 March 2015) was an English writer and illustrator best known for young adult fiction. He has won several honours including the Brandford Boase, the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Prize, British children's literature awards that recognise "year's best" books. Three of his novels feature football and the fictional South American sports journalist Paul Faustino. The Murdstone Trilogy (2014) and "Mr Godley's Phantom" were his first works aimed at adult readers.

Biography

Peet grew up on a council estate in North Walsham, Norfolk, the eldest of three siblings, in a family that he describes as "emotionally impaired". Mal Peet. Walker Books. Retrieved 5 July 2011. Archived 5 July 2011. He attended the Paston School Goodnow, Cecilia. "A powerful late start for young-adult book author Mal Peet". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 2 March 2007. Retrieved 5 July 2011. Archived 5 July 2011. and spent one year at the University of Warwick studying English and American literature, but graduated later, eventually earning an M.A. degree there. He worked at a variety of jobs, including writer for educational publishers, before deciding to start a novel at age 52. He lived in Exmouth, Devon with his wife Elspeth Graham and their son Tom. He also had two children, Lauren and Charlie, from a previous relationship, and there are now four grandchildren - Grace, Ezra, Nella and Frieda.

Cloud Tea Monkeys, a children's picture book written by Peet and his wife, is set in the Himalayas and based on a Chinese folktale. Kirkus Reviews observed, in review of the 2010 edition illustrated by Juan Wijngaard, "The deftly spun, ,emotionally resonant fairy-tale story ... begs to be read aloud. ... Unlike cloud tea, an accessible treasure."

Novelist

Walker Books published Peet's first five novels, with his latest work, The Murdstone Trilogy, being published by David Fickling Books. For his first novel, Keeper (2003), Peet won the Branford Boase Award, which recognizes "the most promising book for seven-year-olds and upwards by a first time novelist." For his second novel, Tamar (2005), he won the annual Carnegie Medal from the British librarians, recognising the year's best children's book published in the U.K. The Penalty (2007) was shortlisted for the Booktrust Teenage Prize and Peet won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize for Exposure (2008), a modern re-telling of Shakespeare's Othello. The once-in-a-lifetime award by The Guardian newspaper is judged by a panel of British children's writers. Keeper, The Penalty, and Exposure are the Faustino books. Tamar is a World War II novel and family mystery set jointly in 1945 Nazi-occupied the Netherlands and 1995 England.

Life: An Exploded Diagram (2011), a semi-autobiographical novel, was his last book for young readers. For reviews, see:

Susan Tranter wrote that "Mal Peet's work is notable for its refusal to submit to categories – the constraints which label what a book should be about, and who it should appeal to. His books to date prove that successful literature for young readers doesn't have to be didactic, or have overtly youthful themes, or even centre on young characters. It is the quality of the writing which is, ultimately, the most important thing." Peet says he is skeptical of books written specifically for teenagers, saying they are prone to condescension.

Peet himself stated, "I see genres as generating sets of rules or conventions that are only interesting when they are subverted or used to disguise the author’s intent. My own way of doing this is to attempt a sort of whimsical alchemy, whereby seemingly incompatible genres are brought into unlikely partnerships."

Three of Peet's books feature the fictional South American sports journalist Paul Faustino (and football). Peet's debut novel Keeper, which is primarily a world-champion goalkeeper's life story in the course of an interview. Keeper, The Penalty, and Exposure all feature Faustino and South American football players. When he won the 2009 Guardian Award for the Othello-based Exposure, he told the sponsoring newspaper he felt that "football books for children were pretty much hey." He also said, "I used to play all the time. I would play football when it was light and read when it was dark. Now I get to play football vicariously."

Peet described his creative occupation thus: "I come up here in the morning to a pleasant room in the roof of my house and imagine I'm a black South American football superstar, then I have to imagine I'm a female pop celebrity who's pregnant. It's a completely mad way to spend your time. If I did it in public I would be sectioned. Writing is a form of licensed madness." The Murdstone Trilogy (2014) and Mr Godley's Phantom represented a departure for Peet, being aimed at adult readers.

Death

Peet died on 2 March 2015 from cancer, aged 67. A final novel of Peet's, titled Beck, was finished and published posthumously by his longtime friend Meg Rosoff.

Selected works

  • Cloud Tea Monkeys (Ragged Bears, 1999), written by Elspeth Graham and Mal Peet, illustrated by Alan Marks — "based on a Chinese folktale" (pbk)
  • Keeper (Walker, 2003) (pbk)
  • Tamar (Walker, 2005)
  • The Penalty (Walker, 2006) (pbk)
  • Exposure (Walker, 2008) (pbk) based on the Shakespeare play Othello
  • Cloud Tea Monkeys (Walker, 2010; New edition), by Graham and Peet, illus. Juan Wijngaard
  • Life: An Exploded Diagram (Walker, 2011) (pbk)
  • The Murdstone Trilogy: an adult "nobble" (David Fickling Books, 2014 (hbk)
  • Beck (Walker Books, 2016, ), completed by Meg Rosoff
  • The Family Tree (Barrington Stoke, 2018) illustrations by Emma Shoard .

Awards

References

  1. (9 March 2015). "Mal Peet, author". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
  2. ''England and Wales, Death Index, 2007-2015''
  3. Martin Chilton, [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/11447377/Mal-Peet-writer-dies-aged-67.html Mal Peet, writer, dies aged 67], The Telegraph, 3 Mar 2015.
  4. {{british council. mal-peet. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
  5. Julia Eccleshare, [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/05/mal-peet Mal Peet obituary], ''The Guardian'', 5 March 2015.
  6. [http://www.branfordboaseaward.org.uk/index.html (Home)]. The Branford Boase Award and Henrietta Branford Writing Competition (branfordboaseaward.org.uk) ('''BBA and HBWC'''). Retrieved 2014-07-01.
  7. (3 March 2015). "Mal Peet, writer, dies aged 67".
  8. Rosoff, Meg. (2016-08-12). "Meg Rosoff on finishing Mal Peet's final book: 'The collaboration kept me in dialogue with him months after he died'". The Guardian.

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1947-births2015-deathsenglish-children's-writersdeaths-from-cancer-in-englandcarnegie-medal-in-literature-winnersguardian-children's-fiction-prize-winnersbritish-writers-of-young-adult-literaturealumni-of-the-university-of-warwickpeople-from-north-walshampeople-educated-at-paston-college