Occupation Writer, illustrator Name Alex Shearer | Role Novelist | |
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Born June 25, 1949 (age 74) ( 1949-06-25 ) Genre Children's picture books Nominations Guardian Children's Fiction Prize People also search for Jane Prowse, Tony Kenyon, Gillian Gordon, Saint Nicholas Books The Great Blue Yonder, Tins, The Speed of the Dark, The Hunted, The Cloud Hunters Movies and TV shows The Greatest Store in t, The Two of Us, Vrienden voor het Leven, No Job for a Lady, Wilmot | ||
Alex Shearer (born June 25, 1949) is a British novelist.
Shearer was recognized as a television scenario writer at age 29 after having produced over 30 works. He was active as a writer for television, movies, theatre, and radio (including plays for BBC Radio 4) for 14 years, and then devoted himself to becoming a novelist.
His maiden work was The Dream Maker (1992). It was especially popular as a children's adventure novel, and he was highly esteemed as an internationally bestselling novelist. In Britain, he had a place among young adult genre reviews, but his work extended beyond into various genres. Shearer himself has said that he hates genre divisions (February 2, 2009, during a talk show in an Ikebukuro bookstore). He also finds it appealing to continually challenge himself by creating new concepts rather than writing series novels.
He writes quickly, having written "The Great Blue Yonder" within three weeks (mentioned on the same talk show). He writes at a pace of two books a year, and has already had over 25 titles published.
His 2003 novel The Speed of the Dark was shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. The Greatest Store in the World was adapted into a television film by the BBC. His novel Bootleg was adapted for a television series by the BBC, and later adapted into manga and anime under its Japanese title Chocolate Underground.