Melvin Burgess (born 25 April 1954)<!--British Council--> is a British writer of children's fiction. He became famous in 1996 with the publication of Junk, about heroin-addicted teenagers on the streets of Bristol. In Britain, Junk became one of the best-known young adult books of the decade. Burgess won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British author.

Style

Polyphony is a narrative technique used in many of his best known novels.

Works

Novels

  • The Cry of the Wolf (Andersen Press, 1990)
  • An Angel for May (Andersen, 1992)
  • Burning Issy (Andersen, 1992)
  • The Baby and Fly Pie (Andersen, 1993)
  • Loving April (Andersen, 1995)
  • The Earth Giant (Andersen, 1995)
  • Junk (Andersen, 1996), also Smack in the U.S. —winner of the Carnegie Medal

Television work

  • Autumn 2009 – The Well – BBC Switch/Lime Pictures

See also

  • Realism

Notes

References

  • Melvin Burgess at Andersen Press
  • Interview with Burgess about 'Doing It' (select from menu at left)
  • "Whose Face Do You See?", a short story by Burgess at Scottish Book Trust
  • "Melvin Burgess: the author of Junk talks money", interview with the Telegraph, 12 June 2011