5 Things To Know About Author Sarah Crossan
This month’s Missy Book Club pick is the utterly fantastic verse novel “One”. This brilliant book is written by Irish author Sarah Crossan.
We don’t want to give too much away about the book itself before we chat about it at the end of the month, but we can tell you all about the brains behind it!
Who is Sarah Crossan
Sarah Crossan was born in London but grew up in Dublin with her three brothers.
She completed a degree in Literature and Philosophy before becoming a teacher. Sarah trained as an English and Drama teacher at Cambridge University until a comment from a student led her to pursue writing. She received mornings off in order to write. Sarah spent the next eight years practicing and writing a novel for adults.
In 2003 Sarah completed her Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Warwick. She also received an Edward Albee Fellowship for writing in 2010.
Career
Despite later abandoning her very first book, Sarah went on to complete a verse novel for teens – “The Weight of Water”. This debut novel was published in 2011 to huge acclaim and recognition. “The Weight of Water” went on to win the “We Read Prize”, a “Coventry Inspiration Book Award”, the “Eilís Dillon Award for a First Children’s Book” and a “UKLA Book Award”. Sarah’s debut was also further shortlisted for the “Carnegie Medal” and the “CLPE Poetry Award”.
This success was just the start of Sarah’s writing career. She has gone on to publish eight more novels for teenagers and young adults to date. Sarah has written novels in both prose and verse.
Across her novels Sarah has tackled everything from conjoined twins (One) and the death penalty (Moonrise), to unusual friendships (Toffee) and love (The Weight of Water).
Her most recent novel “Here is the Beehive” is her first verse novel for adults.
Awards
Sarah has received huge praise for her work alongside numerous awards!
Sarah was shortlisted for the “Carnegie Medal” and “CBI Book of the Year Award” for her two novels “The Weight of Water” and “Apple and Rain”. She went on to win both of these famous awards in 2016 for her verse novel “One“. “One” also received “The Bookseller prize for young adult fiction”, the “CLiPPA Poetry Award” and the “Red House Children’s Book Award”.
Sarah’s verse novel “Moonrise” was shortlisted for “The Bookseller prize for young adult fiction”, the “Costa Children’s Book Award”, the “CBI Book of the Year Award” and the “Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards”.
In 2017 Sarah was selected to represent Ireland at the International Children’s Literature Hay Festival in Denmark. Sarah’s novels been translated into over 20 languages!
What’s next for Sarah?
In 2018 Sarah was awarded Laureate na Nóg. Unfortunately, due to COVID restrictions, events marking the end of Sarah’s laureateship were cancelled. However, Sarah remains extremely passionate about the work she performed in her role. This included making poetry more accessible to young people and introducing them to literature. Sarah is determined to continue to carry out and promote this work while still pursuing her writing.
At Missy.ie we cannot wait to see what she does next!
Join Our Book Club
For September we are reading Sarah Crossan’s verse novel One.
You can join us on our special Instagram and Facebook groups that are just for our book club reads and all things books. You can also use the hashtag #missybookclub.