Jan Mark

Jan Mark would have been born in London during the Second World War, but the maternity hospital had been evacuated to Hertfordshire for the duration. She remained there for a full nine days, prelude to an unsettled childhood spent moving around Southern England before moving with her husband and children to Norfolk and subsequently to Oxford. This rootlessness turned out to be a good thing as most of her books were set in places where she lived or worked, either lightly disguised or else meticulously faithful to the local geography.

Having begun as an Art teacher Jan maintained an interest in education, working in schools, colleges and on residential courses. Two years as Writer in Residence at Oxford Polytechnic also provided experience in teacher training.

Jan was an astute writer of fiction for all ages. She won the Carnegie Medal twice, for THUNDER AND LIGHTNINGS and HANDLES; the Angel Literary Award for FEET AND OTHER STORIES and ZENO WAS HERE, and the Rank/Observer Prize for AQUARIUS. THUNDER AND LIGHTNINGS also won the Penguin Guardian Award for a first children’s book.

Jan died suddenly at the beginning of 2006 shortly after the publication of VOYAGER, a sequel to RIDING TYCHO.

Published posthumously was THE MUSEUM BOOK (Walker), an exploration of the history and meaning of museums of all kinds.

Suppose you went into a museum and you didn't know what it was. From the first sentence of this brilliant book, Jan Mark inspires us to think. She muses on the Muses and the word museum, on why and how people collect things, on different kinds of museums (cabinets, buildings, villages, towns), on their contribution to science and on the notion of classification. She examines the Elgin Marbles (saved or stolen?), famous fakes, the dodo, and some great collectors.