Mark Haddon (born 26 September 1962) is an English novelist, best known for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003). He won the Whitbread Award, the Dolly Gray Children's Literature Award, the Guardian Prize, and a Commonwealth Writers' Prize for his work.

Life, work and studies

In 2003, Haddon won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award—in the Novels rather than Children's Books category—for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. He also won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize in the Best First Book category, as The Curious Incident was considered his first book written for adults. It was adapted as a stage play and was successful for a long run.

The Curious Incident is written from the perspective of a 15-year-old boy, Christopher John Francis Boone. In an interview at Powells.com, Haddon claimed that this was the first book that he wrote intentionally for an adult audience; he was surprised when his publisher suggested marketing it to both adult and child audiences (it has been very successful with adults and children alike). However, it has also been criticised by some autistic readers who objected to its 'depressing' depiction of Christopher, the autistic protagonist.

Haddon's short story "The Pier Falls" was longlisted for the 2015 Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award, the richest prize in the world for a single short story. He published a collection of short stories inspired by classical mythology called Dogs and Monsters in 2024.

In 2023, he turned down an OBE for his services to literature, saying: 'I would feel uneasy accepting an honour which presumes an uncritical acceptance of the British Empire as a good thing.'

Personal life

Haddon is a vegetarian. He describes himself as a "hard-line atheist". In 2019, he had heart bypass surgery. Later he contracted COVID-19 and, as he recovered, was diagnosed with long COVID. He has struggled with "brain fog" that left him unable to read or write. In 2024 he spoke to The Guardian about his five-year-long process of partial recovery, saying that although he still could not read properly, the fog was "starting to thin a little".

Haddon lives in Oxford with his wife Sos Eltis, a Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, and their two sons.

  • Dogs and Monsters (2024)
  • Leaving Home: A Memoir in Full Colour (2026)

Poetry

  • The Talking Horse and the Sad Girl and the Village Under the Sea (2005)

Play

  • Polar Bears (2010)

See also

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References

  • Mark Haddon discussed the rituals and processes that guides his work.
  • The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (official)
  • A Spot of Bother (official)
  • Interview: Coming Down the Mountain
  • Freeman, Hadley. "Novelist Mark Haddon talks to Hadley Freeman", The Guardian (London), 29 May 2006. Retrieved 31 May 2011.
  • Haddon, Mark. "Writers' rooms: Mark Haddon", The Guardian (London), 29 June 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2011.