David Almond: Skellig Author

Almond was born and raised in Felling and Newcastle in post-industrial North East England and educated at the University of East Anglia. When he was young, he found his love of writing when some short stories of his were published in a local magazine. He started out as an author of adult fiction (self publishing 500 copies of his first novel Sleepless Nights) before finding his niche writing literature for young adults.

His first children's novel, Skellig (1998), set in Newcastle, won the Whitbread Children's Novel of the Year Award and also the Carnegie Medal. It has been adapted into a stage play, film and opera.

His subsequent novels are: Kit's Wilderness (1999), Heaven Eyes (2000), Secret Heart (2001), The Fire Eaters (2003) which won the 2003 Whitbread Awards, Clay (2005), Raven Summer (2008), and The Savage (2008) a children's book whose subject matter is written more towards young adults and adults. His first play aimed at adolescents, Wild Girl, Wild Boy, toured in 2001 and was published in 2002.

His works are highly philosophical and thus appeal to children and adults alike. Recurring themes throughout include the complex relationships between apparent opposites (such as life and death, reality and fiction, past and future); forms of education; growing up and adapting to change; the nature of "the self". He has been greatly influenced by the works of the English Romantic poet William Blake.

He is an author often suggested on National Curriculum reading lists in the United Kingdom and has attracted the attention of academics who specialise in the study of children's literature.

Almond currently lives with his family in Northumberland, England. Since 2007 he has been a Visiting Professor in Creative Writing at Nottingham Trent University.

In November 2008 he was a guest on Private Passions, the biographical music discussion programme on BBC Radio 3.

His short story "The Knife Sharpener" appeared in The Sunday Times on 25 January 2009 and The Savage was given away free as part of the Liverpool Reads event.

In 2010 he was awarded the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen prize for lifetime achievement in children's writing.

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ORIGINAL TITLE Skellig
YEAR 2009

RUNNING TIME: 102 min. Trailers / Videos

COUNTRY: England

DIRECTOR: Annabel Jankel
SCREENWRITER Irena Brignull (Book: David Almond)
COMPOSER: Stephen Warbeck
PHOTO Steve Lawes
CAST: Tim Roth, Kelly MacDonald, Bill Milner, John Simm, Skye Bennett, Navin Chowdhry
PRODUCER Feel Films / Taking a Line for a Walk Productions
Fantasy genre. Drama. Intrigue. Kids | Family Film
SYNOPSIS After moving to a new home with his family, young Michael discovers an angel in his garage. His life changed forever when the angel tries to save his little sister, whom he had been diagnosed a heart problem at birth. (FilmAffinity)

Skellig HQ movie trailer

Book cover

Plot summary

Michael and his family have moved into a new house that is in bad repair. He and his parents are anxious as his new baby sister has been born prematurely and may not live. When Michael goes into the garage, amid all the boxes, debris and dead insects he finds a strange human-like creature who seems to have almost wasted away. At first Michael is not even sure the creature is real or a product of his imagination but decides to look after him and takes him food, though he is crotchety and arthritic, demanding aspirin, Chinese food and brown ale. Michael hears a story that human shoulder blades are a vestige of angel wings. Meanwhile his friends from school become more and more distant as Michael stops attending school and so spends less time with them.

He meets a girl named Mina who lives opposite his house, who is home schooled and is interested in nature, drawing and poems by William Blake to which her parents introduced her. She takes care of some baby birds who live in her yard and teaches Michael to hear their tiny sounds. Michael decides to introduce her to the strange old man. As the dilapidated garage is to be demolished the two children move their new companion out of the garage and into an abandoned house that is held in trust for Mina. They discover that he has wings, although they are dry and folded up, and that he seems young and beautiful, contrary to the impression the author had created in the first few chapters.

Michael asks about arthritis and how to cure it, talking to doctors and patients in the hospital where his baby sister is being treated. Cod liver oil begins to heal the strange being. The owls, whose company he has enjoyed while living in the old house, bring him mice to eat. He, Michael and Mina share a mystical experience in which they fly and can see ghostly wings sprouting from each others' shoulder blades. Michael finds he can feel the heartbeat of his baby sister and starts to believe that love can help people to get better.

Michael's baby sister comes dangerously close to death and must undergo heart surgery. His mother goes to hospital to stay with the baby and, that night, dreams or sees a man come in, pick up the baby and play and dance with her. The strange being disappears and the baby survives. Michael maintains his friendship with Mina, as well as with his classmates, and develops his artistic side. Mina paints a picture that Michael's mother recognizes as the man she saw in the hospital. At the end of the novel, everyone is finally happy. The baby is named Joy.