Malorie Blackman always wanted to be an English teacher as a child, but she ended up becoming a computer scientist instead. Malorie’s career began as a systems programmer, but she emerged as a writer years later when she felt the corporate world was not providing her with the fulfillment she required.
She had a burning desire to leave a lasting impression on future generations, but she wasn’t sure what she needed to do to accomplish this. This goal became clear to her when she noticed how few children’s books featured black characters. According to the black heroes foundation, her goal became “changing the narrative.”
Her parents were from Barbados and moved to the United Kingdom during the Windrush generation, and she was born on February 8, 1962, in Bromley, London. Despite the fact that she published her first book when she was 28, she is best known for her critically acclaimed Noughts and Crosses series, which has been adapted into a TV series and a stage play.
According to famous authors, the series explores issues of race, prejudice, and power in a dystopian world where black “Cross” people hold all positions of power and white “Nought” people are discriminated against. She raises the stakes by introducing an element of impossible love between two distinct identities. The novel was one of the most read pieces by young readers, according to the BBC survey, because of how it dealt with such sensitive topics.
What distinguishes Malorie is her ability to make her readers appreciate her meanings and consider her themes. She piques children’s interest with short stories, picture books, and novels. She also employs science to highlight ethnicity and other social issues. She has written over 60 children’s books in the hopes of exposing them to black figures.
Her works have been translated into over 15 languages, including German, Chinese, and French. Malorie is not only interested in the literary world; she also enjoys computer games, piano, and writing poetry in her spare time. She has long been a proponent of gender equality, and in 2014, she joined the Let Books Be Books campaign to encourage authors to stop labeling books as “for girls” or “for boys.”
Malorie was awarded an OBE in 2008 for her contributions to children’s literature, and she has received numerous other honors, including the Eleanor Farjeon Award for distinguished contributions to children’s literature and the Children’s Book Award. Blackman’s work has been praised for its thought-provoking themes, compelling characters, and captivating storytelling.