Mark Haddon
Mark Haddon
Mark Haddonis an English novelist, best known for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. He won the Whitbread Award, Guardian Prize, and a Commonwealth Writers Prize for his work...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth26 September 1962
best days paint seem
My best days do seem like a distillation of all that was best about school. Write a story! Paint a picture! Write a poem! Make a print!
kids minor picture
If kids like a picture book, they're going to read it at least 50 times, and their parents are going to have to read it with them. Read anything that often, and even minor imperfections start to feel like gravel in the bed.
analyse british came divorced families full men slightly society tried whom
If you came from Mars and tried to analyse British or American society through novels, you'd think our society was preponderantly full of middle-aged, slightly alcoholic, middle-class, intellectual men, most of whom are divorced from their families and have nothing to do with children.
capacity extent extreme obviously people rather
Obviously I have a capacity for feeling extreme anxiety, and there are people out there who don't. I'm to some extent rather jealous of them.
almost certain cling common
No one is ever really a stranger. We cling to the belief that we share nothing with certain people. It's rubbish. We have almost everything in common with everyone.
bit sort wants
I really like the idea of being a bit unpredictable. I'm known for being a nice, easy-going person with a straightforward exterior. So I think a bit of me wants to be sort of sly and devious.
logical numbers prime rules spend thinking time work
I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spend all your time thinking about them
english-novelist exotic foreign
I think the U.K. is too small to write about from within it and still make it seem foreign and exotic and interesting.
britain functions genuine life perform reaction readers tradition
I think Britain has this tradition which suggests that if you make the readers laugh too much, you can't really be serious. Whereas, I think one of the functions laughter can perform in a book, as in life, is that it's a reaction to genuine horror.
writing secret good-writing
Most of my work consisted of crossing out. Crossing out was the secret of all good writing.
bit intake people time took
It took me a long time to come out as someone who doesn't like film. It's a bit like when people say they don't like books: you get that sharp intake of breath.
child english-novelist fiction readers reads
Young readers have to be entertained. No child reads fiction because they think it's going to make them a better person.
I've always really enjoyed writing different things because I get bored very easily.
ask english-novelist questions science
Science and literature give me answers. And they ask me questions I will never be able to answer.