Geraldine McCaughrean
Born	Geraldine Jones (1951-06-06)June 6, 1951 (age 74) London, England
Occupation	Author ofchildren's books
Notable works	A Pack of Lies (1988) The Stones Are Hatching (1999) The Kite Rider (2001) Stop the Train (2001) Smile! (2004) Peter Pan in Scarlet (2006) The Death-Defying Pepper Roux (2010) Where the World Ends (2017) The White Darkness (2020)
Notable awards	Whitbread Award for Children's Book (1987, 1994, 1996, 2004) Carnegie Medal (1988, 2018) Guardian Children's Fiction Prize (1989) Blue Peter Book Award (2000, 2001) Michael L. Printz Award (2008)
Spouse	John McCaughrean
Children	1

Geraldine McCaughrean (/məˈkɔːkrən/mə-KAWK-rən;^[1] born 6 June 1951)^[2] is a Britishchildren's novelist. She has written more than 170 books, includingPeter Pan in Scarlet (2004), the official sequel toPeter Pan commissioned byGreat Ormond Street Hospital, the holder of Peter Pan's copyright. Her work has been translated into 44 languages worldwide.^[3] She has received theCarnegie Medal twice and theMichael L. Printz Award among others.

McCaughrean was born 6 June 1951 inLondon to Leslie Arthur and Ethel Jones.^[2] The youngest of three children, she grew up in North London. McCaughrean attendedSouthgate Technical College from 1969 to 1970, then received aBachelor of Education with honors fromChrist Church College, Canterbury in 1977.^[2]

McCaughrean is married to John McCaughrean, with whom she has a daughter: Ailsa.^[2]

McCaughrean studied teaching but found her true vocation in writing. She claims that what makes her love writing is the desire to escape from an unsatisfactory world.^{[citation needed]} Her motto is: do not write about what you know, write about what you want to know.^{[citation needed]}

McCaughrean's work includes many retellings of classic stories for children:The Odyssey,El Cid,The Canterbury Tales,The Pilgrim's Progress,Moby Dick,One Thousand and One Arabian Nights andGilgamesh.

J. M. Barrie gave all rights toPeter Pan toGreat Ormond Street Hospital in 1929, and in 2004, to coincide withPeter Pan's centenary, the hospital launched a competition to find the author of a sequel. McCaughrean won the competition, after submitting a synopsis and a sample chapter.Peter Pan in Scarlet was released internationally on 5 October 2006, published in the UK byOxford University Press and in the US bySimon & Schuster.

McCaughrean has written many other children's fiction books includingThe Kite Rider,The Stones Are Hatching, andPlundering Paradise. She has also written six historical novels for adults including:The Maypole (1990),Fire's Astonishment (1991),Lovesong (1996) andThe Ideal Wife (1997).

As of 2013, McCaughrean has launched an online novel based on the Hylas and Hercules myth,A Thousand Kinds of Ugly.

For her lifetime contribution as a children's writer, McCaughrean was the British nominee in 2004 for the biennial, internationalHans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international recognition available to creators of children's books.^[4] She was elected an Honorary Fellow ofCanterbury Christ Church University in 2006 and a Fellow of theEnglish Association in 2010. She has been a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Literature since 2010.^[5]

Four of McCaughrean's books areJunior Library Guild selections:Not the End of the World (2005),^[6]The White Darkness (2007),^[7]The Glorious Adventures of the Sunshine Queen (2011),^[8] andWhere the World Ends (2020).^[9]

In 2002,The Horn Book Magazineincluded The Kite Rider on their list of the best children's fiction of the year.^[10]

In 2020,Booklist includedWhere the World Ends on their "Top 10 Historical Fiction for Youth" list.^[11]

• A Little Lower Than the Angels (1987)
• A Pack of Lies (1988)
• Gold Dust (1993)
• Blue Moon Mountain (1994)
• Plundering Paradise (1996) (US title:The Pirate's Son)
• Forever X (1997)
• The Stones Are Hatching (1999)
• The Great Chase (2000)
• Stop the Train! (2001)
• The Kite Rider (2001)
• Showstopper! (2003)
• Smile! (2004)
• Not the End of the World (2004)
• The White Darkness (2005)
• Cyrano (2006)
• Peter Pan in Scarlet (2006)
• Tamburlaine's Elephants (2007)
• The Death-Defying Pepper Roux (2009)
• Pull Out All The Stops! (2010) (US title:The Glorious Adventures of the Sunshine Queen)
• Robin Hood & the Golden Arrow and a World of Other Stories (2011)
• The Positively Last Performance (2013)
• The Middle of Nowhere (2013)
• Where the World Ends (2017)
• The Supreme Lie (2021)

• Official website
• "Neverland regained" at theWayback Machine (archived 11 March 2008), review ofPeter Pan in Scarlet by Mick Imlah,The Times Literary Supplement, 25 October 2006
• Geraldine McCaughrean atBritish Council: Literature
• Geraldine McCaughrean at theInternet Speculative Fiction Database
• Our Authors, 2Archived 26 May 2018 at theWayback Machine (including McCaughrean) at Romaunce Books, publisher of romantic and historical fiction
• Geraldine McCaughrean atLibrary of Congress, with 72 library catalogue records

• British children's writers
• British fantasy writers
• British historical novelists
• British writers of young adult literature
• Carnegie Medal in Literature winners
• Costa Book Award winners
• Guardian Children's Fiction Prize winners
• Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature
• Michael L. Printz Award winners
• 1951 births
• Living people
• Alumni of Canterbury Christ Church University
• British women children's writers
• British women science fiction and fantasy writers
• British women historical novelists
• British women writers of young adult literature
• 20th-century British novelists
• 20th-century British women novelists
• 21st-century British novelists
• 21st-century British women novelists
• Writers from London
• Fellows of the English Association

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