Written by Gillian Lloyd | 04 October 2011

John Marsden Profile

‘Here, read this.’ My daughter passed me a book. ‘I think you’ll enjoy it.’

It was John Marsden’s “Tomorrow When the War Began.”

My daughter was right. I started the book and became instantly engrossed. And so my enthusiasm for John Marsden’s writing began. I read all seven books in the series, and found his writing to be clear and to the point. He writes from a teenage point of view, which stirred up my memories of emotions endured during the growing up process. His characters encounter difficult situations, which they handle in an entirely plausible manner. He gives us teenagers with spirit and courage, counterbalanced with anxiety and self-doubt.

“The Tomorrow Series” was published between 1994 and 1999.

Tomorrow When the War Began

The Dead of the Night

The Third Day, the Frost

Darkness, Be My Friend

Burning for Revenge

The Night is for Hunting

The Other Side of Dawn

This was followed by a trilogy of stories about Ellie Linton, the narrator of “The Tomorrow Series”. “The Ellie Chronicles” were published between 2003 and 2006.

John Marsden was born in Melbourne in 1950. His family regularly moved around Australia and he attended a number of different schools. He studied law at university, but dropped out after realising it wasn’t for him. He took on a huge variety of jobs over the ten years, looking for an occupation that he could enjoy. During this period he suffered from depression, which took him to suicidal state of mind. Fortunately he sought professional help. John’s life turned around from this point. He started learning more about people and relationships, and how to communicate.

He trained as a teacher, and developed a passion for educating children. Life as a schoolboy had been mostly a negative experience, and he believed the education process could be much more rewarding.

After teaching for many years, John began writing in an effort to encourage teenagers to read.

In an interview with George Negus in 2004, John said:

“It had become increasingly evident to me that students were just not reading books anymore, that teenagers were drifting away from reading. And I thought this was a sad state of affairs. There were many interests that they had and many passions that they felt that could easily be explored in a book in a way that they would respond to very strongly. My first book was 'So Much to Tell You'. I sent the book off to six different publishers who all sent it back. I wondered how much they understood teenagers and how well they really knew teenagers. And so I persevered. And eventually, the book was published in 1987.”
John has won many awards over the years, and is one of Australia’s favourite authors. His books have been published in 37 countries, showing his universal appeal. He still feels strongly about education, and has opened a school on his property called Candlebark School. It is for students aged 5–14 years, and offers a very different environment from current standard education.

I believe John Marsden has succeeded in his goals, by providing readers with thought provoking and exciting speculative fiction.