Author Archives: Joanna Nadin

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About Joanna Nadin

A former broadcast journalist and special adviser to the prime minister, since leaving politics I’ve written more than 80 books for children and adults, as well as speeches for politicians, and articles for newspapers and magazines like The Guardian, Red and The Amorist. I also lecture in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, and hold a doctorate in young adult literature. I’m a winner of the Fantastic Book Award and the Surrey Book Award, and have been shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, the Booktrust Best Book award and Queen of Teen among others, and twice nominated for the Carnegie Medal, for Everybody Hurts, and for Joe All Alone, which is now a BAFTA-winning and Emmy-nominated BBC TV series. I've also worked with Sir Chris Hoy on the Flying Fergus series and ghost-written Angry Birds under another name. I like London, New York, Essex, tea, cake, Marmite, mint imperials, prom dresses, pubs, that bit in the West Wing where Donna tells Josh she wouldn’t stop for a red light if he was in an accident, junk shops, crisps, Cornwall, St Custard’s, Portuguese custard tarts, political geeks, pin-up swimsuits, the Regency, high heels, horses, old songs, my Grandma’s fur coat, vinyl, liner notes, the smell of old books, the feel of a velveteen monkey, Guinness, quiffs, putting my hand in a bin of chicken feed, the 1950s, burlesque, automata, fiddles, flaneuring, gigs in fields on warm summer nights, Bath, the bath.

The Carnegie Feeling

I have never been one of life’s winners when it comes to sport, barely even scraping third in the 1979 St Mary’s Primary sports day yoghurt-pot-and-umbrella race (actual race, involving running wildly around the field with an empty Ski pot … Continue reading

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First lines and first chapters

Find out how writers from David Almond to Frank Cottrell Boyce to Sue Townsend have grabbed their readers from the off, and kept them turning pages long into the night. And have a go at writing your own first page … Continue reading

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Stay gold, Ponyboy

There’s something almost alchemical about the moment a hard copy of your book is finally pressed into your hot hands. A strange kind of magic that has turned the base material – people and plot and places – that has … Continue reading

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The making of a mixtape…

Rob has it right in High Fidelity: “The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then … Continue reading

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Want to write middle grade?

Want to know how to write middle grade fiction? Want to know what middle grade fiction is and why the bejaysus we keep stealing words from the Americans? Then join me (and Bloomsbury Publishing’s Writers and Artists Yearbook) in this 2.5 … Continue reading

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Everybody Hurts – a story of love (and ping pong)

It began, as so many great love stories do, with an argument. This time, however, there was no prom, or even eyes meeting across a bar; rather boy (Anthony McGowan) met girl (me) on Meg Rosoff’s blog, shouting about Jane … Continue reading

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Joe All Alone on CBBC

About three years ago, before Joe was even published, I got a phonecall from a TV producer who had got hold of the manuscript, read it in one sitting, and was determined to persuade CBBC to make it into a … Continue reading

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Home alone?

I’m at the UKMG extravaganza next Saturday in Nottingham, celebrating books for 9-12 year olds, including my own Joe All Alone. But ahead of that, I’m getting shouty rather than celebratory. This went up over on Pewter Wolf’s blog today, … Continue reading

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A is for Apiphobia.

Originally posted on Smiles away girl.:
Do you cross the road if a dog is walking towards you? Do buttons make your skin crawl? Snakes make you want to cry? Are you overwhelmed by panic at the thought of blood,…

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Hello May Hitlist

An oldie, but a goodie. My So-Called Life is on the hitlist (in a good way) for May.

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