Patrick Ness
About the author

Patrick Ness

Patrick Ness was born on an army base called Fort Belvoir, near Alexandria, Virginia, in the United States where his father was a drill sergeant in the US Army. Patrick’s family soon moved to Hawaii, where he lived until he was almost six and he later lived in Washington and Los Angeles.After studying English Literature at the University of Southern California, Patrick got a job as a corporate writer at a cable company in Los Angeles, writing manuals and speeches and once even an advertisement for the Gilroy, California Garlic Festival. His writing career started with the publication of his first story in Genre magazine in 1997. Since then, Patrick moved to London and has had two adult books published and also taught creative writing at Oxford. On writing, Patrick says, "Here's a helpful hint if you want to be a writer: When I'm working on a first draft, all I write is 1000 words a day, which isn't all that much (I started out with 300, then moved up to 500, now I can do 1000 easy). And if I write my 1000 words, I'm done for the day, even if it only took an hour (it usually takes more, of course, but not always). Novels are anywhere from 60,000 words on up, so it's possible that just sixty days later you might have a whole first draft. The Knife of Never Letting Go is 112,900 words and took about seven months to get a good first draft. Lots of rewrites followed. That's the fun part, where the book really starts to come together just exactly how you see it, the part where you feel like a real writer".  Monsters of Men is the winner of the 2011 Carnegie Medal. A Monster Calls was the winner of the 2012 CILIP Carnegie Medal and the Kate Greenaway Medal. A Monster Calls was also long-listed for the 2012 Inky Awards.

Books by Patrick Ness

Patrick Ness Articles

Podcast: Patrick Ness on How Complacency is the Death of Creativity

Podcast

15 June 2020

Podcast: Patrick Ness on How Complacency is the Death of Creativity

    Revenge, redemption and dragons: Delving into the themes of Burn by Patrick Ness

    News | Author Related

    1 June 2020

    Revenge, redemption and dragons: Delving into the themes of Burn by Patrick Ness

    Dragons, prophecy and 1950’s Cold War space race:  Read an extract from Burn by Patrick Ness

    Review | Extract

    29 May 2020

    Dragons, prophecy and 1950’s Cold War space race: Read an extract from Burn by Patrick Ness

    News | Author Related

    25 May 2020

    "1950's America, but with dragons": Author Patrick Ness answers our questions about his new book, Burn

    How does the world end? Read a review of Burn by Patrick Ness

    Review | Our Review

    25 May 2020

    How does the world end? Read a review of Burn by Patrick Ness

    Whale of a Story: Review of And the Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness

    Kids & Ya

    4 September 2018

    Whale of a Story: Review of And the Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness

    Moby Dick Re-Imagined: Read an extract from And the Ocean Was Our Sky

    Kids & Ya

    4 September 2018

    Moby Dick Re-Imagined: Read an extract from And the Ocean Was Our Sky

    Dark and Philosophical: Read a Q&A with And the Ocean Was Our Sky Illustrator Rovina Cai

    Kids & Ya

    4 September 2018

    Dark and Philosophical: Read a Q&A with And the Ocean Was Our Sky Illustrator Rovina Cai