Former Chair of the Youth Libraries Group, Alison Brumwell, joins us to reflect upon the exceptional writing and varied career of the late Marcus Sedgwick, whose exceptional and experimental writing has done so much to enhance and enrich the lives of his readers.  Marcus took part in the virtual programme for this year's Youth Libraries Group conference.  The fascinating and insightful interview he gave with Alison is made available here.

In her 2018 Carnegie Medal winning acceptance speech, Geraldine McCaughrean commends writers for children and young people who are prepared to “wall themselves up in gruelling interior worlds to bring us a true insight into injustice, impending danger, other people’s lives and hardships.” She goes on to remark that we master words by meeting them, not by avoiding them; that young readers, indeed readers of all ages, need words in order to think independently.

The intervening four years have presented young people with the necessity of facing unprecedented change: a global pandemic and an extended period of interrupted schooling; the growing threat of climate change; war in the Ukraine; and a UK economy in freefall. If adults struggle to orient themselves, how can our children cope? One way is through words and the power of story. The late Marcus Sedgwick is one writer who has challenged and inspired readers of all ages through his ground-breaking fiction.

It's hard to know where to begin when discussing Marcus’s extraordinary legacy. His writing defies pigeon-holing and he tackled during his lengthy career a number of difficult issues and themes. His numerous accolades and significant publishing record have been well-documented: a 2011 Branford Boase Award for his debut Floodland; a Michael L. Printz Award in 2014 for Midwinterblood, and 2016 Michael L. Printz Honors for Revolver and The Ghosts of Heaven; not to mention, featuring on the Carnegie Medal shortlist eight times. The most recently nod was in 2020 for Voyages in the Underworld of Orpheus Black, a moving collaboration with his brother Julian and illustrator Alexis Deacon.

Writing about Marcus and his books on more than a superficial, or academic, level inevitably involves my own experience of his work, from sharing his fiction with my daughter (his writing is a revelation to read aloud) to the first time I met him, at Headingley Library in Leeds in 2008. I listened to him talk about Blood Red Snow White, an extraordinary historical adventure which charts the experiences of writer Arthur Ransome during the days of the Russian Revolution.  It remains one of my favourite novels. I was struck at the time by Marcus’s passion for the subject matter, his meticulous research, fluent delivery and – perhaps above all - his patience. It’s quite a feat to write brilliant fiction and combine this with the generosity and grace required to address an audience effectively. Each time I heard Marcus speak, whether it was at a conference or event, this quality was evident. And never more so than in his support of the Carnegie Medals and the shadowing initiative.

Marcus was a huge supporter of the Carnegie and Kate Greenaway shadowing scheme and of reading groups in general. I was a regional judge when Midwinterblood was shortlisted for the 2013 Carnegie Medal and remember many animated discussions at different secondary school shadowing groups about the novel: its structure, the time shifts, the way in which Merle and Eric’s lives are inextricably linked and the ultimate sacrifice made. Marcus asks that his reader “descends into the real anguish of imaginary beings”, as Richard Powers writes in The Overstory. This is equally evident in The Ghosts of Heaven and Saint Death, two equally challenging – and harrowing - novels which were also published to critical acclaim and received shortlist recognition for the Carnegie Medal in 2016 and 2018, respectively. Marcus joined the Bibliosmiacs (a reading group of very engaged young readers based at Huddersfield Library) virtually in May 2018 to discuss with them the themes of Saint Death and what motivated him to write Arturo’s bleak story in which abject poverty, and the inexorable strangle hold of Mexican drug lords, prevails. What strikes me most upon re-reading Saint Death is that it is brutal, but not devoid of hope; indeed, as Marcus writes in Together We Win, we are living in very dark times. “There is injustice on all sides, there is fear and frustration, and anger, but we know what ought to be done, what fight must be fought.” Young people are at the forefront of this awakening and, needless to say, the Bibliosmiacs were transfixed by their conversation with Marcus and appreciative of the trust he places in his readers.

I’ve already alluded to Marcus’s versatility as a writer, and he is certainly capable of elegantly throwing an astute curve ball or two. He is also one of the few writers who can tackle the twin challenges of humour and horror. His books for younger readers, including the under-appreciated She is Not Invisible, are full of adventure and universal appeal. The Raven Mysteries are enormous fun and I have recommended Scarlett Hart: Monster Hunter to many graphic novel devotees. What’s not to enjoy about an intrepid orphan, her faithful butler, gruesome creatures, an evil count and a secret project?  For older readers, The Ghosts of Heaven is sublime fiction a marvellous example of Marcus writing at the height of his powers. The mark of a truly exceptional novel is one which stands up against multiple readings and reveals more over the passage of time to remain ever fresh and relevant. Along with The Monsters We Deserve (written to commemorate the 200^th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein) and A Love Like Blood it is for me one of the most chilling and thought-provoking of Marcus’s novels. (In fact, the final four word sentence of A Love Like Blood contains more undiluted terror than many books I can think of and rivals the best short stories of Poe.)

In his later writing career, Marcus Sedgwick continued to challenge, inspire and interrogate. He found a new home with Barrington Stoke, writing a trio of short novels which explore young people’s relationship with the natural world. As with many of Marcus’s other works, they draw upon myth and legend and some of the earth’s deeply held secrets. It was an honour to speak to Marcus about the second book in the trio as part of Youth Libraries Group’s annual national conference in September 2022. We discussed Wrath, which is nominated for the 2023 Yoto Carnegie Medal, and its hopeful conclusion. Learning to listen, and being listened to, are themes which animate the novel and its characters. There’s a moving tenderness for them as they reach out for each other and the wild landscape they encounter, and some uniquely beautiful writing.

Marcus also turned his attention to the importance of social responsibility, and the mental health and well-being of young people, with the publication in 2022 of Be Kind and Be Calm. These two books are toolkits for readers who want to make a difference and upon whom stress and anxiety, particularly post-pandemic, have taken their toll. They are remarkable, important books in a remarkable writing life. At the time of his death, Marcus had written 80k words of a new novel for Andersen Press, of which his editor said, “I can only imagine was something quite brilliant.” As a reader a librarian and a bookseller, I am immensely grateful for Marcus’s brilliance and for the lasting pleasure of reading his work.

“To be remembered in the heart of a loved one is to live forever.”
Ghosts of Heaven, Marcus Sedgwick (2016)