Mal Peet

Mal Peet (October 1947 – 2 March 2015) was an English author and illustrator best known for young-adult fiction. He has won several honours including 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) is his first work aimed at adult readers.

Biography

Peet grew up in a council estate in North Walsham, Norfolk, the eldest of three siblings, in a family that he describes as "emotionally impaired". He attended the Paston School and spent one year at the University of Warwick studying American and British literature. 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 had two children, Lauren and Charlie (from an earlier relationship with Amy Urry) . Within the last year he had also became a grandfather to Grace and Ezra.