Marcus Sedgwick

Marcus Sedgwick was born 8 April 1968 in Preston, a small village in East Kent, England.[3] He has one brother, Julian, and a half-sister, Ellie.[3] As a child he was shy and recalled being bullied at Sir Roger Manwood's School in Sandwich, Kent an all-boys grammar school.[3]

His mother had once worked in Machynlleth at the Centre for Alternative Technology; the area was the setting for Susan Cooper's fantasy series The Dark Rising, and Sedgwick called those books influential for him.[3] He was also influenced by Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast series, which his father had introduced him to.[3]

He studied mathematics and politics at the University of Bath.[3] His father died when Sedgwick was twenty years old.[4][3]

Before becoming a full-time author, Sedgwick worked as a bookseller at Heffers, a children's bookstore, and in sales at children's publishers Ragged Bears and Walker Books.[3] According to The Guardian he began writing "seriously" in 1994.[3]

His first book, Floodland, was published in 2000, and it received the Branford-Boase award for the best debut children's novel of that year.[3] Floodland tells the story of Zoe, who lives on her own on an island that used to be part of England before global warming caused the seas to rise. Publishers Weekly said that "Despite some page-turning chapters, Zoe and her story lack the credibility to sustain readers through the contradictory themes and sometimes unimaginative prose."[5] Alternative Magazine said it was "a stunning debut novel that precluded more literary brilliance to follow."[6]

Dark Horse (2001) was shortlisted for several awards.[3] My Swordhand is Singing (2006) won a Booktrust award.[3]

In 2013 he released Dark Satanic Mills, a graphic novel written in conjunction with his brother Julian Sedgwick and illustrated by John Higgins.[3] His 2015 book The Ghosts of Heaven, a work of young adult fiction consisting of four loosely connected parts combined into an "intriguing" novel, according to Sarah McCarry writing for The New York Times.[7]

He won numerous awards for his writing, most notably the Michael L. Printz Award in 2011 for Revolver, 2014 for The Ghosts of Heaven, and 2016 for Midwinter Blood.[3] At the time of his death he was the most-nominated author for America's most prestigious book prize for writing for young adults. In addition to writing, Sedgwick worked on film and book projects with his brother Julian.[3] He was represented by RCW Literary Agency.[3]

Sedgwick taught creative writing at Bath Spa University as a writer in residence from 2011 through 2014 and wrote reviews for the Guardian newspaper.[3]

Kirkus in reviewing his 2016 Saint Death called out his "characteristic precision of English prose".[8] According to The Guardian, after the 2006 appearance of My Swordhand is Singing, his works were "regularly on the shortlist for every major award for his subsequent titles", and although seldom receiving major awards were "always critically acclaimed, much admired by other writers and popular with readers".[3]

Sedgwick was married and divorced three times.[3] He had a daughter, Alice, with his first wife Kate Agnew.[3]

In addition to drawing and writing, Sedgwick played the drums and was an avid music lover.[4] Some of his favorite writers include Susan Cooper, Thomas Mann and Arthur Schnitzler.[11]

In 2014, Sedgwick was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis.[1][3] After his diagnosis, he moved to the French Alps and then to Dordogne.[3] His final work before his death was the nonfiction book All In Your Head: What Happens When Your Doctor Doesn’t Believe You?[1] Sedgwick died in France on 15 November 2022, at the age of 54.[12][13][14]

• Official website
• Marcus Sedgwick at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Marcus Sedgwick at Library of Congress, with 15 library catalogue records
• Story behind A Love Like Blood – essay by Marcus Sedgwick