'It's the deepest reflection of all'

 

“Your writing voice is the deepest possible reflection of who you are. The job of your voice is not to seduce or flatter or make well-shaped sentences. In your voice, your readers should be able to hear the contents of your mind, your heart, your soul.” – Meg Rosoff

 

Born in Boston on this date in 1956, Rosoff has split her adulthood between the U.S. and Great Britain, primarily residing in London since age 32.   A multi-award winner for many of her works, she is perhaps best known for her Young Adult novel How I Live Now (also an award-winning movie); Just in Case, named by British librarians as a  “Best Children's Book Published in the UK,” and Picture Me Gone, a finalist for the U.S. National Book Award for Young People's Literature.   Her latest is the 2022 novel Friends Like These.   

 

Rosoff is a Fellow of Britain’s Royal Society of Literature, and has been selected for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the richest prize in children’s literature given by the Swedish government to honor the famed Swedish children’s author and creator of Pippi Longstocking. 

 

“One of the more interesting things I've learnt since becoming a writer is that if you like the book, you'll generally like the person,” Rosoff noted.   “It doesn't always work in reverse - there are huge numbers of lovely people out there writing not very good books.”