Morris Gleitzman (born 9 January 1953) is an Australian author of children's and young adult fiction.Morris Gleitzman, AustLit He has gained recognition for sparking an interest in AIDS in his novel Two Weeks with the Queen (1990).
He has co-written many children's series with another Australian children's author, Paul Jennings. One of Gleitzman and Jennings's collaborations, the Wicked! book series, was adapted into an animated series in 2000.
Gleitzman has also published three collections of his newspaper columns for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald as books for an adult readership, and he used to write for the popular Norman Gunston Show in the 1970s. His latest book in the Once series, Always, was released in 2021. He is also known for his Toad series of books.Morris Gleitzman, Toad series, Random House. Retrieved 28 January 2008.
In February 2018, Gleitzman was named the Australian Children's Laureate for 2018/2019.
Early life Gleitzman was born in the town of Sleaford, Lincolnshire, on 9 January 1953. He has one brother and one sister. His dad, Phillip Gleitzman, is an auditor, and his mother, Pamela, was a Bates employee.
He attended Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School in Bexley, England.
In 1969, when Gleitzman was 16, he and his family moved to Sydney. In Australia he got a job as a paperboy, bottle-shop shelf-stacker, store Santa Claus, frozen chicken defroster, fashion-design assistant and sugar-mill employee. He attended the University of Canberra.
After university Gleitzman worked for ten years as a screenwriter. During these years he wrote, among other things, material for the Norman Gunston album Nylon Degrees.
Bibliography Year Title Imprint ISBN Notes 1987 The Other Facts of Life Penguin Books First novel, adapted from screen play 1989 Two Weeks with the Queen Pan Books 1990 Second childhood McPhee Gribble/Penguin 1991 Misery Guts Pan Australia 1992 Worry Warts Piper Australia Sequel to Misery Guts. 1993 Blabber Mouth Adapted into a play of the same name by Mary Morris in 1996. 1994 Sticky Beak Sequel to Blabber Mouth. 1995 Puppy Fat Piper Sequel to Misery Guts and Worry Warts. 1996 Belly Flop Pan Books 1997 Water Wings Pan Macmillan Australia Loose sequel to Belly Flop.1998 Bumface Puffin Books Wicked! Co-written with Paul Jennings. 1999 Gift of the Gab Sequel to Blabber Mouth and Sticky Beak.2000 Toad Rage Self Helpless: 57 Pieces of Crucial Advice for People Who Need a Bit More Time to Get It Right Penguin 2001 Adults Only Deadly! Puffin Books Co-written with Paul Jennings. Toad Heaven Sequel to Toad Rage. 2002 Boy Overboard 2003 Teacher's Pet Penguin Books Toad Away Puffin Books Sequel to Toad Rage and Toad Heaven.2004 Worm Story Penguin Books Girl Underground Puffin Books Sequel to Boy Overboard.2005Once "...Gleitzman delivers a sharp sense of what it must have been like to be a child during the Holocaust, forced to grow up far too quickly." 2006 Aristotle's Nostril Penguin Books Doubting Thomas Puffin Books 2007 Give Peas a Chance Collection of short stories. Features characters from Misery Guts, Blabber Mouth, Second Childhood, Belly Flop, Adults Only, Teacher's Pet, Worm Story and Aristotle's Nostril. 2008 Toad Surprise Sequel to Toad Rage, Toad Heaven and Toad Away.Then Penguin Sequel to Once.2009 Grace Viking 2010 Now Sequel to Once and Then "Readers of the first two books will recognize a great deal, and those who have not should read them to gain a fuller picture of the years before and those in which we live."Tickled Onions and Other Funny Stories Puffin Books Collection of short stories. Contains some stories from Give Peas a Chance.2011 Too Small to Fail Pizza Cake: And Other Funny Stories Collection of short stories. Contains some stories from Tickled Onions. 2012 After Penguin Books Sequel to Once, Then and Now. 2013 Extra Time 2014 Loyal Creatures 2015 Soon Viking Sequel to Once, Then, Now and After.2016 Toad Delight Penguin Random House Sequel to Toad Rage, Toad Heaven, Toad Away and Toad Surprise. Snot Chocolate Collection of short stories. 2017 Maybe Sequel to Once, Then, Now, After and Soon2018 Funny Stories: and Other Funny Stories Puffin Books Collection of short stories. Contains all stories from Give Peas A Chance, Pizza Cake and Snot Chocolate, plus one new story.Help Around the House 2021 Always Viking Sequel to Once, Then, Now, After, Soon and Maybe. 2023 Digging Up Dad: And Other Hopeful (and Funny) Stories Penguin Random House Collection of short stories. 2024 Tweet Penguin Random House
Awards 1993 BILBY Award (Blabber Mouth) CROW Award (Blabber Mouth) 1994 CROW Award (Sticky Beak) 1997 COOL Award (Belly Flop) 1998 BILBY Award (Bumface) COOL Award (Bumface) KOALA Award (Bumface) YABBA Award (Bumface) 2001 YABBA Award: Older Readers (Toad Rage) 2008 ANTO Cole Award (Toad Rage) 2013 COOL Award (Pizza Cake) 2016 Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year: Younger Readers (Soon)Book of the Year – Winners 2016, Children's Book Council of Australia
References
External links
Morris Gleitzman, Puffin Books