Lesley Howarth (born 29 December 1952) is a British author of children's and young adult fiction. For the novel Maphead, published by Walker Books in 1994, she won the annual Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a once-in-a-lifetime book award judged by a panel of British children's writers, and she was a runner-up for the Carnegie Medal.

Reviewers including Philip Pullman have remarked upon Howarth's ability to "humanize" highly technical or unusual subjects, a tendency which she calls "the romance of hard things".

Biography Howarth was born 29 December 1952 in Bournemouth, England. As a child, she attended the Bournemouth School for Girls, then, as an adult, received education from the Bournemouth College of Art and Croydon College of Art.

Awards

The Pits (1996) is a Junior Library Guild book.

In January 2000, The Guardian named Mister Spaceman the children's book of the week. +Awards for Howarth's writingYearTitleAwardResultRef.1993Whitbread Children's Book AwardShortlist1994MapHeadCarnegie MedalShortlist1995MapHeadGuardian Children's Fiction AwardWinner1995Weather EyeNestlé Smarties Book Prize (ages 9–11)Winner1995MapHeadW. H. Smith Mind Boggling Books AwardShortlist1995MapHeadYoung Telegraph Book AwardShortlist

Works

The Flower King (1993) MapHead (1994) Weather Eye (1995) The Pits (1996) Fort Biscuit (1996), illustrated by Ann Kronheimer Welcome to Inner Space (1997) MapHead 2 (1997); US title, Maphead: the return Quirx : The Edge of the World (1998) Bad Rep (1998), illus. Mark Oliver Paulina (1999) Yamabusters (1999) The Squint (1999), illus. Jeff Cummins Aliens for Dinner (1999) Mister Spaceman (2000) I Managed a Monster (2000) No Accident (2000) Ultraviolet (2001) Carwash (2002) Dade County's Big Summer (2002) Drive (2004) Colossus (2004) Calling the Shots (2006) Bodyswap: The Boy Who Was 84 (2009) Tales from the Sick Bed (London: Catnip, 2009), as by L. P. Howarth Tales from the Sick Bed: Brainstorms Tales from the Sick Bed: Fever Dreams Tales from the Sick Bed: The Medicine Chest Swarf (2010)

See also

Rob Day

Notes

References