Jenny Valentine

Jenny Valentine
Born 1970
Cambridge
Occupation author
Language English
Nationality British
Education English literature
Alma mater Goldsmiths' College
Genre Children's literature
Notable works Finding Violet Park
Notable awards Guardian Children's Fiction Prize
Years active 2007–present
Spouse Alex Valentine
Children two

Jenny Valentine (born 1970) is a British children's novelist. For her first novel and best-known work, Finding Violet Park (HarperCollins, 2007), she won the annual Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a once-in-a-lifetime book award judged by a panel of British children's writers.[1][2]

Valentine lives in Glasbury-on-Wye, Wales[3] with her husband singer/songwriter Alex Valentine, with whom she runs a health food shop in nearby Hay-on-Wye.[4]

Writer

HarperCollins has published Valentine's novels both in Britain and, usually one year later, in America. Finding Violet Park (2007) was re-titled Me, The Missing and The Dead in the US (2008).[5] Beside winning the Guardian Prize[1] it made the shortlist (seven finalists that year) for the annual Carnegie Medal, which the British librarians confer upon the year's best children's book published in the UK[6][7] Valentine became one of the most talked about authors in the country. Basque, Catalan, and Italian-language translations were published in 2008, followed by Dutch, French, German, Slovenian, Spanish, and Norwegian.[8]

Her second novel, Broken Soup, was published in January 2008. It is her most critically acclaimed book to date and was shortlisted for the 2008 Waterstone's Children's Book Prize and the 2008 Costa Book Children's Book Award,[9][10] and longlisted for the 2008 Booktrust Teenage Prize.[11] By 2010 it had been published in Dutch and German-language translations.[8]

"Ten Stations", a short story prequel to Finding Violet Park, was included among 2009 World Book Day publications. That year Valentine also inaugurated the series of short stories for young children entitled Iggy and Me.[12]

Valentine's third novel, The Ant Colony,[13] was released in 2009.[14] By 2011 it had been published in Dutch and German-language translations.[8]

Her fourth novel, The Double Life of Cassiel Roadnight, was based in her hometown Hay-on-Wye.[15] It was also her fourth novel nominated for the Carnegie Medal: roughly, one of the year's top forty children's books published in the UK, in the esteem of librarians.[6] By 2011 it had been published in Dutch-language translation.[8]

Valentine annually takes part in the Hay Festival but has not announced any forthcoming children's books.

Works

Year Title Publisher Annual awards
2007 Finding Violet Park
(US) Me, the Missing, and the Dead		 HarperCollins

2007 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize[1]

2008 Broken Soup HarperCollins
  • Waterstone's Children's Book Prize shortlist[9]
  • Costa Book Children's Book Award shortlist[10]
  • Booktrust Teenage Prize longlist[11]
  • Manchester Book Award longlist[16]
2009 "Ten Stations" (short story) UK World Book Day 
2009 The Ant Colony
2009 Iggy & Me (short story series) HarperCollins
2010 The Double Life of Cassiel Roadnight  HarperCollins
2015 Fire Colour One  HarperCollins

References

  1. 1 2 3 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2007 (top page). guardian.co.uk. 8 August 2012.
  2. ↑ "Guardian children's fiction prize relaunched: Entry details and list of past winners". guardian.co.uk 12 March 2001. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  3. ↑ "Happy Valentines (From Hereford Times)". Herefordtimes.com. 15 December 2008. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  4. ↑ "Jenny Valentine". Davidhigham.co.uk. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  5. ↑ "Me, the Missing, and the Dead by Jenny Valentine – Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists". Goodreads.com. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  6. 1 2 Press Desk (directory). CILIP. Retrieved 8 August 2012. Quote: "media releases relating to the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Children's Book Awards in date order." (2002 to 2006 releases concern 2001 to 2005 awards.)
  7. ↑ Jenny Valentine at Fantastic Fiction.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Valentine, Jenny". WorldCat. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  9. 1 2 Waterstone's Children's Book Prize
  10. 1 2 Costa Book Awards
  11. 1 2 Booktrust Teenage Prize
  12. ↑ "Iggy and Me : Jenny Valentine". HarperCollins. 3 September 2009. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  13. ↑ Valentine, Jenny (15 December 2005). "The Ant Colony (Book) by Jenny Valentine (2009)". Waterstones.com. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  14. ↑ Mary Hoffman (11 April 2009). "Review: The Ant Colony by Jenny Valentine | Books". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  15. ↑ "Hot read: The Double Life of Cassiel Roadnight by Jenny Valentine". Gossip Blender. 22 February 1999. Retrieved 8 August 2012.
  16. 1 2 Manchester Book Award

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/6/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.