Though readers often find themselves inadvertently laughing aloud as they read Anne Fine’s novels, as she herself admits, “a lot of my work, even for young readers, raises serious social issues. Growing up is a long and confusing business. I try to show that the battle through the chaos is worthwhile and can, at times, be very funny.” In 1994, this unique combination of humour and realism inspired the hit movie MRS. DOUBTFIRE, based on Anne’s novel MADAME DOUBTFIRE and starring the late comedic genius Robin Williams.
Anne is best known in her home country, England, as a writer principally for children, but over the years she has also written eight novels for adult readers. Seven of these she describes as black – or sour – comedies, and the first, THE KILLJOY, simply as “dead black”. These novels have proved great favorites with reading groups, causing readers to squirm with mingled horror and delight as she peels away the layers in all too familiar family relationships, exposing the tangled threads and conflicts beneath. (It’s perhaps not surprising that Anne has openly expressed astonishment at the fact that murder in the domestic setting is not even more common.)
Anne has written more than sixty books for children and young people. Amongst numerous other awards, she is twice winner of both the Carnegie Medal, Britain’s most prestigious children’s book award, and the Whitbread Award. Twice chosen as Children’s Author of the Year in the British Book Awards, Anne Fine was also the first novelist to be honoured as Children’s Laureate in the United Kingdom. In 2003, Anne became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was awarded an OBE. Her work has been translated into forty-five languages.
Anne Fine lives in the north of England and has two grown up daughters.
Books in order of publication:
Madame Doubtfire – 1987
Bill’s New Frock – 1989
Goggle-Eyes – 1989
Flour Babies – 1993
The Tulip Touch – 1996
How to Write Really Badly – 1996
Step by Wicked Step – 1996
Telling Liddy – 1998
Charm School – 1999
Bad Dreams – 2000
Up on Cloud Nine – 2001
The Diary of a Killer Cat – 2006
The Return of the Killer Cat – 2007
The Devil Walks – 2011
Blood Family – 2013
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