David Almond (born 15 May 1952) is a British author who has written several novels for children or young adults from 1998, each one to critical acclaim.
He is one of thirty children's writers, and one of three from the U.K., to win the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award, "the world's most prestigious prize in children's literature". For the 70th anniversary of the British Carnegie Medal in Literature in 2007, his debut novel Skellig (1998) was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works, selected by a panel to compose the ballot for a public election of the all-time favourite. It ranked third in the public vote from that shortlist.
Famous quotes containing the words david and/or almond:
“Such were the first rude beginnings of a town. They spoke of the practicability of a winter road to the Moosehead Carry, which would not cost much, and would connect them with steam and staging and all the busy world. I almost doubted if the lake would be there,—the self-same lake,—preserve its form and identity, when the shores should be cleared and settled; as if these lakes and streams which explorers report never awaited the advent of the citizen.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I want to go back, out of the bad stories,
But there’s always the possibility that the next one . . .
No, it’s another almond tree, or a ring-swallowing frog . . .
Yet they are beautiful as we people them
With ourselves.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)