Dear Miffy

"Australia's king of young adult fiction" The Australian Dreamed about you again. Like I do most nights. Tony writes letters. To Miffy. And breaks your heart. Your life's a solo run, and even the crowd that's cheering you want you to fall over. They love when you win, but they love it even better when you lose. Telling powerful stories has become the hallmark of John Marsden's writing. But even John Marsden has never written a book as powerful and gutsy as Dear Miffy. [Contents may offend some readers]

John Marsden is the best known of all contemporary Australian writers for young adults. A master storyteller, Marsden's 7-volume Tomorrow Series has become a landmark in Australian YA fiction, capturing the hearts and minds of readers around the world. This critical study of Marsden's work explores how he develops his story ideas, the major beliefs and themes that are interwoven into his stories, how he creates his characters, and much more. Marsden fans, literature students, and teachers will find this an engaging YA Lit resource.

"I found Ellie's voice quite unexpectedly, as I drove back from the tip one Saturday afternoon. I was in an old Landrover, just 500 metres from home, and suddenly I could hear Ellie talking... " In his fiction John Marsden explores the lives of the guilty, the inarticulate, the crazy, the brave and the resourceful. Read about his ideas and his experiences in Marsden on Marsden - a frank, behind-the-scenes look at what John was really thinking about when he wrote books like "Letters from the Inside" and the internationally acclaimed Tomorrow Series.

I keep coming back to John Marsden. What makes him so fascinating to me is that he approaches writing for young adults with a whole philosophy of what it means to be a teenager – a philosophy that’s embedded in the two schools he runs, but also in his early experiences with mental illness and hospitalisation. His perspective raises interesting questions about YA fiction – how much darkness is allowed, before you are considered a “bad influence”? An original and moving look by award-winning writer Alice Pung at one of her biggest influences – the much-loved and hugely successful writer John Marsden. In the Writers on Writers series, leading authors reflect on an Australian writer who has inspired and fascinated them. Provocative and crisp, these books start a fresh conversation between past and present, shed new light on the craft of writing, and introduce some intriguing and talented authors and their work. Published by Black Inc. in association with the University of Melbourne and State Library Victoria. Alice Pung is an award-winning writer, editor, teacher and lawyer based in Melbourne. She is the bestselling author of Unpolished Gem and Her Father’s Daughter and the editor of the anthologies Growing Up Asian in Australia and My First Lesson. Her first novel, Laurinda, won the Ethel Turner Prize at the 2016 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.

John Marsden is not just one of Australia's most successful writers of all time; he's also one of our best teachers of writing. "Highly recommended" Sun Herald "The most exciting, interesting and useful book on the teaching of writing" Australian English Teacher The ultimate "get off your bum and do it" book, Everything I Know About Writing will motivate anyone to write. It's a lively, funny guide to writing, as readable as a novel, but packed front to back with ideas and insights. This new edition has one other great feature: 600 extraordinary topics, guaranteed to have you or your students writing before you know it. Everything I Know About Writing is the most painless way into writing - ever.

From John Marsden, the highly-acclaimed and bestselling author of Secret Men's Business, comes a practical guide to help single mothers enjoy and celebrate raising their sons. Drawing on his years as teacher and mentor to young people, John Marsden follows the child from baby to young man and identifies 101 important steps in fostering a boy's developing masculinity. Written with humour and compassion, John understands what it means to be a boy and how to help a boy grow into a well-adjusted man. RECENT STATISTICS from the Australian Bureau of Statistics: - Out of Australia's 4.6 million children aged under eighteen, 1.1 million children live with only one of their natural parents, usually as a result of relationship or marriage breakdown. - The vast majority of children, who had a natural parent living elsewhere, were in the sole care of the parent with whom they lived, while 3 per cent of children had parents who shared care more evenly between them. - In April 1997, there were 978,000 Australian children who were living with one natural parent and who had a natural parent living elsewhere. The vast majority (88%) lived with their natural mother in either one-parent families (68%) or in step or blended families (20%).

A warm and funny novel from the bestselling author of the Tomorrow series, Staying Alive in Year 5, Cool School and Creep Street "Australia's king of young adult fiction" The Australian Last week, Mrs Hazell got us to write a story called 'The Biggest Disaster I Ever Caused'. I should have asked for extra time to write it. I've got a feeling that by tomorrow I'll be able to do a whole new version. Tony and his friends are seriously bored with their lives. They go 'looking for trouble'. But when a strange and secretive family move in down the road, Tony begins to wonder whether trouble hasn't come looking for him. And once trouble finds him - it doesn't want to let him go!