Patrick Ness - Author

Patrick Ness was born on an army base called Fort Belvoir, near Alexandria, Virginia, in the United States. His father was a drill sergeant in the US Army. He lived in Hawaii until he was almost six, spent the ten years after that in suburban Washington state, and then on to Los Angeles, where he studied English Literature at the University of Southern California.

His main job after graduating was as corporate writer at a cable company, writing manuals, form letters and speeches and once even an advertisement for the Gilroy, California Garlic Festival (this is true). If you're American and hated your cable company, he probably wrote you a letter of apology.

He got his first story published in Genre magazine in 1997 and was working on his first novel when he moved to London in 1999. He's lived here ever since. Sometimes he teaches creative writing but mostly he tries to write 1,000 words a day, 'come hell or high water'.

In May 2008, he published The Knife of Never Letting Go, his first book for young adults. It won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the Booktrust Teenage Prize and he hasn't looked back since. Click here to read a Q&A with Patrick.

10 Things You Didn't Know About Patrick Ness

1. He has a tattoo of a rhinoceros.
2. He has run two marathons.
3. He is a certified scuba diver.
4. He wrote a radio comedy about vampires.
5. He has never been to New York City but...
6. He has been to Sydney, Auckland and Tokyo.
7. He got accepted into film school but turned it down to study writing.
8. He was a goth as a teenager (well, as much of a goth as you could be in Tacoma, Washington and still have to go to church every Sunday).
9. He is no longer a goth.

10. Under no circumstances will he eat onions.

The Knife of Never Letting Go Patrick Ness A 2013 World Book Night selection. The electrifying and unflinching debut novel about the impossible choices of growing up by award-winning fiction writer Patrick Ness. Shortlisted for the 2009 Branford Boase Best Debut Novel Award. Shortlisted for the Carnegie Award 2009. Winner of... Format: Paperback - Released: 02/05/2013 Lovereading Price: £6.74 - Saving £2.25 (25%)

Monsters of Men Patrick Ness Winner of the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2011. This is a spine-tingling, page turning read. Heaped with well-deserved awards, the Chaos Walking Trilogy comes to a brilliant conclusion in Monsters of Men. Set in a dystopian future in a world... Format: Paperback - Released: 02/05/2013 Lovereading Price: £6.74 - Saving £2.25 (25%)

The Ask and the Answer Patrick Ness Shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2010. Prize-winning author Patrick Ness follows up The Knife of Never Letting Go with equally hard hitting The Ask and the Answer. Trying to escape, Todd and Viola fall into the hands of Mayor... Format: Paperback - Released: 02/05/2013 Lovereading Price: £6.74 - Saving £2.25 (25%)

A Monster Calls Patrick Ness One of our Great Reads You May Have Missed in 2012. Prize-winning Patrick Ness displays brilliant new skills of sensitivity in this hauntingly touching story of how a boy deals with the looming threat of his mother’s death from cancer. Haunted... Format: Paperback - Released: 06/09/2012 Lovereading Price: £5.24 - Saving £1.75 (25%)

Monsters of Men Patrick Ness Shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke Award 2011. This is a spine-tingling, page turning read. Heaped with well-deserved awards, the Chaos Walking Trilogy comes to a brilliant conclusion in Monsters of Men. Set in a dystopian future in a world where... Format: Paperback - Released: 04/10/2010 Lovereading Price: £5.99 - Saving £2.00 (25%)

Monsters of Men Patrick Ness May 2010 'new gen' Book of the Month title. This is a spine-tingling, page turning read. Heaped with well-deserved awards, the Chaos Walking Trilogy comes to a brilliant conclusion in Monsters of... Format: Hardback - Released: 03/05/2010 Lovereading Price: £11.24 - Saving £3.75 (25%)

The Ask and the Answer Patrick Ness Winner of the Costa Children's Book Award 2009. Costa Book Awards 2009 Judges' comment: "A strikingly original and compelling work." Shortlisted for the prestigious Teenage Book of the Year Award 2009. Prize-winning author Patrick Ness follows up The Knife of Never... Format: Paperback - Released: 07/09/2009 Lovereading Price: £5.99 - Saving £2.00 (25%)

The Knife of Never Letting Go Patrick Ness A 2013 World Book Night selection. The electrifying and unflinching young adult debut novel about the impossible choices of growing up by award-winning fiction writer Patrick Ness. Shortlisted for the 2009 Branford Boase Best Debut Novel Award. Shortlisted for the Carnegie Award 2009.... Format: Paperback - Released: 14/10/2008 Lovereading Price: £5.99 - Saving £2.00 (25%)

Topics About Which I Know Nothing Patrick Ness One of Patrick Gale's favourite books. A wonderful, humorous and bizarre collection of tales looking at how the world might have been. June 2010 Guest Editor Patrick Gale on Patrick Ness... Before he took the world’s young adults (and their parents)... Format: Paperback - Released: 21/03/2005 Lovereading Price: £7.49 - Saving £2.50 (25%)