Jan Mark's Work
Jan Mark taught in a North Kent secondary school (Gravesend) from 1965 - 1971. She began writing in 1974.
Jan Mark frequently visited schools, libraries, and colleges to speak about writing and to conduct workshops. She did extensive work with students and serving teachers, on the uses of fiction in the classroom. Visiting schools in Britain she paid particular attention to the plight of English teachers in the light of recent education reforms.
Jan Mark lectured in the USA, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, and Belgium. For two years she was Writer in Residence at Oxford Polytechnic, now Oxford Brookes University, in the Education Faculty (1982-1984).
Jan was a freelance writer of novels and short stories, television and radio plays, for adults and children. She wrote literary criticism for The Guardian and The Times Educational Supplement.
Awards
- The Penguin/Guardian Award 1975
- The Library Association Carnegie Medal 1976
- The Rank/Observer Prize for Teenage Fiction 1982
- The Library Association Carnegie Medal 1983
- The Angel Award for Fiction 1983
- The Angel Award for Fiction 1987
Check the winners of The Carnegie Medal
A survey of Jan Mark's work 1976-2006
(with thanks to Jon Appleton)
- 1976 Thunder And Lightnings
- 1977 Under The Autumn Garden
- 1978 The Ennead
- 1979 Divide And Rule
- 1980 The Short Voyage Of The Albert Ross
- 1980 Nothing To Be Afraid Of
- 1981 Hairs In The Palm Of The Hand
- 1981 The Long Distance Poet
- 1982 The Dead Letter Box
- 1982 Aquarius
- 1983 Feet and Other Stories
- 1983 Handles
- 1984 Childermas
- 1985 Trouble Half-Way
- 1985 At The Sign Of The Dog And Rocket
- 1986 Frankie's Hat
- 1986 Out Of The Oven (picture book)
- 1986 Fur (picture book)
- 1987 Zeno Was Here
- 1987 Fun (picture book)
- 1987 Dream House
- 1987 Momma Travels Light (small volume of 5 poems, Priapus Poets, Berkhamsted, 100 copies printed, 30 of these numbered and signed)
- 1988 Enough Is Too Much Already
- 1988 The Twig Thing
- 1988 Presents From Gran (picture book)
- 1989 Strat And Chatto (picture book)
- 1989 Man In Motion
- 1990 A Can Of Worms
- 1990 Finders, Losers
- 1991 In Black And White
- 1991 The Hillingdon Fox
- 1992 The Snow Maze
- 1992 Great Frog And Mighty Moose
- 1993 Carrot Tops And Cottontails (picture book)
- 1993 All The Kings And Queens
- 1993 This Bowl Of Earth (picture book)
- 1993 Fun With Mrs Thumb (picture book)
- 1994 They Do Things Differently There (read Jane Sherman's very personal text about this novel)
- 1994 Haddock (picture book)
- 1994 Taking The Cat's Way Home
- 1994 A Worm's Eye View
- 1994 Harriet's Turn
- 1995 A Fine Summer Knight
- 1995 The Tale of Tobias (picture book)
- 1996 Under the Red Elephant
- 1997 The Coconut Quins
- 1997 The Sighting
- 1997 God's Story
- 1997 My Frog and I
- 1998 Worry-Guts
- 1999 Lady-Long-Legs
- 1999 The Eclipse of the Century
- 1999 Mr Dickens Hits Town (picture book, published in Canada)
- 1999 The Midas Touch (picture book)
- 2000 The Lady with Iron Bones (Walker Books)
- 2000 Heathrow Nights (Hodder)
- 2001 Rats (Oxford University Press, non-fiction for young children)
- 2001 Shipwrecks (Oxford University Press, non-fiction for young children)
- 2001 King Herla's Ride (retold by Jan Mark, Hippo Scholastic, Everystory series)
- 2002 Long Lost (Macmillan)
- 2002 The Ennead (new edition, Oxford University Press)
- 2003 Something in the Air (Doubleday)
- 2003 Stratford Boys (Hodder)
- 2003 A Jetblack Sunrise (Hodder, compilation of war poems)
- 2003 Eyes Wide Open (A&C Black)
- 2003 Aeroplanes (Oxford University Press, non-fiction for young children)
- 2004 Useful Idiots (David Fickling Books)
- 2005 Riding Tycho (Macmillan)
- 2005 The Electric Telepath (Bodley Head)
- 2005 Robin Hood All at Sea (Barrington Stoke)
- 2005 Turbulence (Hodder)
- 2006 Voyager (Macmillan)
- 2006 Road Closed (Hodder)
- 2006 Museums (Walker)
- 2006 King John and the Abbot (Barrington Stoke, illustrated by Tony Ross)
Plays
- 1985 The Weathermonger
- 1985 Izzy
- 1987 Interference
- 1987 Captain Courage and the Rose Street Gang
- 1990 Time and the Hour
- 1994 The One that Got Away
Anthologies
- 1989 The Kingfisher Book of School Stories (Grisewood & Dempsey)
- 1992 The Puffin Book of Song and Dance (Viking)
- 1993 The Oxford Book of Children's Stories (Oxford)
- 2003 A Jetblack Sunrise (Hodder Wayland, war poetry)