Double Cross

Malorie Blackman has written over seventy books for children and young adults, including the Noughts & Crosses series, Thief and a science-fiction thriller, Chasing the Stars. Many of her books have also been adapted for stage and television, including a BAFTA-award-winning BBC production of Pig-Heart Boy and a Pilot Theatre stage adaptation by Sabrina Mahfouz of Noughts & Crosses. There is also a major BBC production of Noughts & Crosses, with Roc Nation (Jay-Z’s entertainment company) curating the soundtrack as executive music producer. In 2005 Malorie was honoured with the Eleanor Farjeon Award in recognition of her distinguished contribution to the world of children’s books. In 2008 she received an OBE for her services to children’s literature, and between 2013 and 2015 she was the Children’s Laureate. Most recently Malorie wrote for the Doctor Who series on BBC One, and the fifth novel in her Noughts & Crosses series, Crossfire, was published by Penguin Random House Children’s in summer 2019.

"Few writers can sustain a plot as well as Malorie Blackman" Sunday Telegraph "The danger of being sucked into and destroyed by this violent world is brilliantly handled by Blackman ... Blackman hangs an old story on a modern frame with terrific resonance" Inis "Blackman gets people, especially young adults, in all their tentativeness, determination and energy. She gets humanity as a whole, too. Most of all she writes a stonking good story" Carousel "This is a highly intelligent thriller with important things to say, and once again the distance between Blackman's imagined world and present-day inner city is beautifully judged. It deserves, and will find, a wide teenage readership" The School Librarian "It fizzes with strong emotion and grips with its authenticity, a highly-skilled piece of writing by a writer with all the right instincts ... Gutsy, spot-on and relevant ... and shocking too. A great read" -- Phil Hewitt Chichester Observer