Best known as the woman behind The Demon Headmaster, Gillian Cross is at the forefront of contemporary children's novelists. When it comes to weaving an unforgettable story, few can rival her - whether the genre is adventure, thriller, comedy or science-fiction.
THE BASICS
Born: Wembley, North London, December 24th 1945
Jobs: Baker's Assistant, Childminder, University Teacher, Constituency Assistant to MP
Lives: Wolston, Near Coventry
First Books for Children: The Runaway and The Iron Way 1979
THE BOOKS
For as long as she can remember, Gillian Cross has loved books and stories. She studied English Literature at Oxford and Sussex Universities, and was further inspired to start writing after reading The Beethoven Medal by K M Peyton - "I can remember coming to the surface at the end, dazed and blinking. As though a door had opened. It made me realise that a novel has at heart to be a good story and that was what I wanted to write." And that's exactly what Gillian has written... time and time again. From her shorter novels like Rent-a-Genius and The Roman Beanfast to longer reads including The Great Elephant Chase and Pictures in the Dark, Gillian Cross never disappoints. The range of Gillian's talent has been demonstrated by her capacity to move from one genre to another - from the school-story-gone-crazy of The Demon Headmaster series to the epic tale of The Great Elephant Chase; from the thriller Wolf to the high-tech adventure New World. Gillian has won several of the major children's book awards, but is best-known for her Demon Headmaster novels and the hugely successful BBC TV series of the same name. The idea for The Demon Headmaster came from Gillian's daughter Elizabeth's reaction to an earlier Cross novel Save Our School, in which one of the characters writes about a wicked headmaster. "I really like the story... about the Headmaster," Elizabeth told her mum, "It's much better than the sort of books you write!"
WHAT SHE SAYS...
"My books have had varying backgrounds, from the building of the railways in the 1840s to a strike in a modern clothing factory, and from lace smuggling in the 18th century to life in 20th-century schools. My aim is to try to reveal character through action rather than through analysis and to show how people react in stressful, exciting situations ... but, above all, I want not to be as boring as all that sounds - I want to entertain, to amuse, and to move my readers."
"I started writing the beginnings of books when I was six or seven, but I didn't get to the end of one until I was twenty-eight. It took me that long to learn not to tear up the first chapter just because it sounded silly."
"I don't know where the first wisps of an idea come from. But I work on them by asking lots of questions: why? how? who? what next? Then I write the book to find out what the idea is really about."
"It takes me about nine months to write each of the big books."
"Children like really horrible monsters; adults sometimes find the ideas scary."
WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT GILLIAN CROSS...
"If Gillian Cross wrote adult fiction she probably would have won by now... the Booker... have been feted in a dozen countries and become a household name in a few." Irish Times
"Gillian Cross is a terrific writer wholly in touch with her audience." Mail on Sunday
"The Demon Headmaster is the Dr Who of its generation." The Guardian
"Bright, lively and beautifully written, The Great Elephant Chase is a joy." Irish Times
"Great fun." Jan Mark, TES on The Great Elephant Chase
"A wonderful piece of storytelling." 100 Best Books 1995 (Young Book Trust)on The Great Elephant Chase
"Gillian Cross has pushed back the boundaries of technology to serve up this tense, fast-moving thriller." Liverpool Echo on New World
"A compulsive read." Books For Keeps on New World
"A haunting, mesmerising story." Young Telegraph on Pictures in the Dark
"This is in the best tradition of Gillian Cross's novels: an effortlessly inventive, multi-stranded plot, insight into interesting subject areas, brilliant characterisation and dialogue and, above all, a tremendously strong emotional range and an acute awareness of the stresses of growing up." School Librarian on Pictures in the Dark
"Hilarious reading." Books For Your Children on Rent-a-Genius
"A chilling psychological drama from a master of suspense." School Library Journal on Roscoe's Leap
"An exciting, complex and substantial psychological thriller." TES on Roscoe's Leap
"An intriguing story, whose surreal peculiarities are made all the more mesmerising by being set within a suburban juvenile gangster yarn." Books For Keeps on Twin and Supertwin
"Electrifying." Daily Mail on Wolf
"A gripping, multi-layered novel." The Guardian
AWARDS
Shortlisted for The Guardian Children's Fiction Award 1980 for The Iron Way
Shortlisted for The Carnegie Medal 1982 for The Dark Behind the Curtain
Shortlisted for The Guardian Children's Fiction Award 1983 for The Dark Behind the Curtain
Shortlisted for The Carnegie Medal 1984 for On The Edge
Shortlisted for The Whitbread Children's Book Award 1984 for On The Edge
American Library Association: Best Book For Young Adults 1984 for On The Edge
Shortlisted for The Carnegie Medal 1987 for Chartbreak
Shortlisted for The Carnegie Medal 1988 for A Map of Nowhere
Shortlisted for The Whitbread Children's Book Award 1988 for A Map of Nowhere
Shortlisted for The Guardian Children's Fiction Award 1990 for Wolf
The Carnegie Medal 1990 for Wolf
The Whitbread Children's Book Award 1992 for The Great Elephant Chase
The Smarties Prize 1992 for The Great Elephant Chase
Gillian Cross titles available from Puffin:
Rent-a-Genius
To find out more about Gillian and her books go to www.gillian-cross.co.uk
