Alex Nye
Home address:
6 Kinnoull Avenue, Dunblane, Perthshire, FK15 9JG, ScotlandTelephone:
01786 825114Email:
alex.nye1@btinternet.comWebsite:
www.alexnye.comBRAW network:
yesLL funded:
yesBiography:
I was born in Leicester, and grew up near the sea in King's Lynn, Norfolk. As a child I read constantly and wrote numerous first chapters of unfinished novels, which ended up under my bed in cardboard boxes.
At the age of sixteen I won the W H Smith Young Writers' Award, and was one of the top ten winners out of 33,000 entrants. At nineteen I went to King's College, London, and as soon as I finished my degree I took part-time work in libraries/bookshops and wrote the rest of the time. In 1995 I moved from London to Dunblane with my son who was a year old at the time. We lived on Sheriffmuir in a remote cottage, and this provided the inspiration for CHILL. My daughter was born while living there, after a winter of blizzards. I wrote the book while the children were still quite young, snatching time in between school and nursery hours, or in the evenings after they were in bed. CHILL won the Royal Mail Award in 2007.
My children are now teenagers, and I combine writing with teaching in secondary schools.
About writer's work:
'He stared up at the dark mass of the house. Then he thought he saw movement in the library window to the right of the drawing room. A shadow moving, backwards and forwards... then it was gone.'
Atmosphere and setting are very important to me in a book, both in the ones I read and the books I write. Ghost stories are appealing to me because of the way in which they can dramatize a character's inner conflict or personal history.
About writer's events and projects:
I enjoy talking to young readers and am available to visit schools and libraries to encourage them in their own writing. I also give creative writing workshops, in particular on the art of the ghost story, and am keen to encourage young people to express themselves.
'Alex Nye's involving Chill is set near Stirling, in a snowbound house with a ghost in the library. It's a tense confection of mystery, historical intrigue and adventure for eight-12-year-olds. Young heroes Samuel and Fiona find they cannot ignore a call from the past to put things right.' Lindsey Fraser, Sunday Herald.
'A Dunblane author's debut work was one of the winners in a competition to find the best in Scottish children's writing - as voted for by readers. Set on Sheriffmuir, 'Chill,' by Alex Nye is the tale of a boy and girl working to unlock the events of a mysterious past that a ghostly figure won't let lie. It won the younger readers (age 8-12) category in the Royal Mail Awards for Scottish Children's Books...'
The sequel, Shiver, was published in 2009! 'A year on from laying the ghost of Catherine Morton to rest, the Morton children and their neighbour, Samuel, still suspect that Dunadd House remains uneasy. As winter closes again on wild Sheriffmuir, they try to unravel the family secrets one last time, hoping to stop Mrs Morton from selling Dunadd and moving on for good.
As the electricity shuts down, and the phone lines are cut off, Samuel and Fiona discover that history has one more surprise up its sleeve.
The long-awaited sequel to the award-winning Chill, this will not fail to intrigue and enthral readers who suspected that the story hadn't all been told.'
Language:
EnglishAge groups:
9-12, TeensBooks written
"He stared up at the dark mass of the house. Then he thought he saw movement in the library window to the right of the drawing room. A shadow moving, backwards and forwards ...then it was ...
A year on from laying the ghost of Catherine Morton to rest, the Morton children and their neighbour, Samuel, still suspect that Dunadd House remains uneasy. As winter closes in again on wild ...
