'Nicolas Brasch: Welcome to The Garret. John Marsden has dominated the book world for years. His Tomorrow Series is a seminal work of young adult fiction, as widely read today as it was when first published in 1993. It is my great pleasure to welcome John Marsden to The Garret.' (Introduction)
Unit Suitable For AC: Year 9 (NSW Stage 5), with some lessons suitable (with adaptations) for Years 7, 8 and 10
Themes
editing, experiences, Language, observational writing, storytelling
General Capabilities
Critical and creative thinking, Information and communication technology, Intercultural understanding, Literacy, Personal and social
Cross-curriculum Priorities
Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia
Show notes
- John read Enid Blyton, Geoffrey Trease, Nan Chauncy as a child.
- He then read Alistair MacLean, Desmond Bagley, Peter O’Donnell and Ian Fleming as a young adult.
- Catcher in the Rye by D. Salinger was the book that most influenced him.
- John believes there is integrity in William Makepeace Thackeray or Charles Dickens or Jane Austen that is hard to find in contemporary fiction, and that Emma by Austen is an ‘extraordinary, brilliantly written novel’.
- John quoted S. Byatt… Who said ‘You can’t speak your own language properly if you don’t have a store house of singing things in your mind’.
- It was George Orwell who wrote in Politics and the English Language, ‘If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out’.
- John admires Dr Seuss and James Joyce for their ability to break the rules and make the English language do whatever they wanted, and Ursula Le Guin and K. Rowling for the worlds they create.
- John thought the writing in The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne by Brian Moore was brave.
- John is the patron of Express Media.
