“When you are in your teenage years you are consciously experiencing everything for the first time, so adolescent stories are all beginnings. There are never any endings.” – Aidan Chambers
Born in England on this date in 1934, Chambers is winner of both the British Carnegie Medal and the American Printz Award for Postcards from No Man's Land. The author of many bestselling children's and young-adult novels, he also is the winner of the international Hans Christian Andersen Award for his lasting contributions to children’s literature.
After starting his adult life as a teacher, Chambers spent several years at an Anglican Monastery before leaving to pursue freelance writing. His young-adult novel Now I Know is based partly on his experiences as a monk. That book is part of an award-winning 6-book series called The Dance Sequence.
In 1969, he and his wife, Nancy, founded Thimble Press and the magazine Signal to promote literature for children and young adults. Thimble’s many successes led to their receiving the Eleanor Farjeon Award for outstanding services to children's books.
Chambers said he never “writes down” to his young audience. “I will not compromise on language or content. At 15, people can handle the same language as me, they're just as complicated as me and are very interested in thinking about important questions for the first time.”
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