Patrick Ness was born in the USA, but has lived in London
since 1999.
He writes both novels and short stories for adults and
children, but is best known for his books for young adults.
His first books for teenagers made up the Chaos Walking
trilogy, of which the first book, The Knife of Never
Letting Go, won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize
and the Booktrust Teenage Prize, followed by The Ask and
the Answer, which won the Costa Award. All three titles
in the trilogy were shortlisted for the prestigious Carnegie
Medal, an unprecedented event, and in 2011 the third
title, Monsters of Men, won the award.
Patrick's sixth book, A Monster Calls, was based on
an original idea by Siobhan Dowd and illustrated by
Jim Kay. It won every major prize in children's fiction,
including the Galaxy National Book Award, the UKLA
Book Award and the Red House Children's Book Award.
In 2012 it became the first book ever to win both the
Carnegie Medal and the Kate Greenaway Medal. Patrick
has also written the screenplay for the film of A Monster
Calls. Directed by Juan Antonio Bayona and starring
Liam Neeson, Sigourney Weaver and Felicity Jones, the
film is set for release in 2016.
In 2013 he published his next novel More Than This
to great critical acclaim. It was also shortlisted for the
Carnegie Medal.