David Almond – författare

I wos a secrit shy and tungtied emptyheded thing.I wos tort to read and rite and spell by my tenda littl muther & by Mr McCaufrey the butcha & by Missus Malone and her gosts.So I am not cleva, so please forgiv my folts and my mistayks.I am the won that glares into your harts & that prowls insyde yor deepist dremes.Wonce I was The Anjel Childe. Now I am The Monster.Just lissen and take note. Let the words enter yor blud & boans.I am Billy Dean. This is the truth. This is my tale.This is the downloadable audiobook edition of David Almond''s striking and original work, The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean, complete and unabridged and read by the author himself.

"We come into the world out of the dark. We haven't got a clue where we've come from. We've got no idea where we're going. But while we're here in the world, if we're brave enough, we'll flap our wings and fly."

It's easy. Running away from the children's home, Whitegates. Erin and January do it all the time. But this time they're going away downriver on a raft. They have their friend, Mouse, with them. Now they're stranded in the night on the lethal Black Middens. They climb up onto an ancient quay. How could they imagine that they'd discover a girl called Heaven Eyes? Heaven Eyes, a girl who should have drowned at sea, a girl living her with her strange and dangerous Grampa. A girl with a secret history that only Grampa knows, and he isn't telling. A tale of courage and adventure, and of the search for happiness and family.

David Almond's own adaptation of his acclaimed novel, shortlisted for The Carnegie Medal, and published in translation around the world.

Man, bird or angel? Who, or what, is Skellig?

Michael was looking forward to moving house. It was all going to be wonderful. But now his baby sister's ill, his parents are frantic, and Doctor Death has come to call. Michael feels helpless. Then he steps into the crumbling garage. What is this thing beneath the spider webs and dead flies? A human being, or a strange kind of beast never seen before? The only person Michael can confide in is Mina. Together they carry the creature into the light, and Michael's world changes for ever.

David Almond's own adaptation of his renowned novel, winner of The Carnegie Medal, The Whitbread Children's Book Award, and a string of prizes around the world. A timeless classic, published in over 40 languages, it touches the minds, hearts and souls of people of all ages. The story has become a movie, an opera, a radio play and this stage play, first produced at the Young Vic, and directed by Trevor Nunn.

"There was a wild kid living in Burgess Woods. He had no famly and he had no pals and he didn't know where he come from and he couldn't talk. His wepons wer old kitchen nives and forks and an ax. He was savage. He was truly wild."

Blue Bake's at home with his mum and his little sister, Jess. He's writing a story. Not all that stuff about wizards and happy ever after - a real story about blood and guts and trouble, because that's what life's really like. At least it is for Blue, since his Dad died, and Hopper the bully started knocking him about. But Blue's story takes on a life of its own, weird and dangerous and wild. The savage that he creates on the page and in his dreams comes to life in the real world, and seems set on bringing chaos and revenge. Can Blue keep his creation under control? Can the savage even bring Blue and his family a kind of peace?

David Almond's own adaptation of his acclaimed graphic novel created with Dave McKean and published in translation around the world.

"Are me feet off the floor yet? Are me feet off the floor?"

In a rainy town in the north of England, there are strange goings-on. Dad is building a pair of wings, eating flies, and feathering his nest. Auntie Doreen is getting cross and making dumplings. Mr Poop is parading the streets, shouting louder and louder, and even Mr Mint, the head teacher, is getting in a flap. And watching it all is Lizzie, missing her mam and looking after her dad and thinking how beautiful the birds are. What's behind it all? It's the Great Human Bird Competition, of course. Who will be the first to fly across the River Tyne?

David Almond's barmy, tender and funny tale about wings and faith, written for the Young Vic to accompany their production of Skellig. It has since been performed many times around the world, and also adapted by Almond into a much-loved, much-translated novel, with illustrations by Polly Dunbar.