Malorie Blackman

For over thirty years Malorie Blackman’s books have shaped British literature and inspired a generation of readers and writers – including many of our own booksellers!

Now, at long last, Malorie is sharing her own story. She joins us to celebrate and discuss her much-anticipated memoir Just Sayin’, an empowering account of the life of a genius storyteller and all the reasons she writes.

Malorie has written over seventy books for children and young adults, including the Noughts & Crosses series, Pig-Heart Boy, Thief, and a science-fiction thriller, Chasing the Stars. Between 2013 and 2015 she was the Children’s Laureate, in 2008 having received an OBE for her services to children’s literature.

In Just Sayin’,  Malorie takes us back to her childhood, and the precise moment she fell in love with words. She shares how she gravitated to imaginary worlds and realms in order to escape her childhood – the disconnect she felt from other children, the fracture of her family to a single-parent household and the period that led to her eventual homelessness. These are the darker moments which made way for the light and her inspiration for writing.

Eighty-two rejection letters later, numerous accolades, and over sixty books published Malorie Blackman has spent her life proving people wrong and writing words to encourage every generation to dream bigger and bigger.

This book is an ode to the younger Malorie, and all the disconnected dreamers like her. This book is full with humour and hope. This is her life lessons, the impetus behind her biggest books, and a few writing tips too. This is an inspiring account of an extraordinary life.