John Larkin (author)


John Brendan Larkin is an Australian writer. He is best known for The Shadow Girl and The Pause, both published by Penguin Random House. The Pause was released in April 2015 and won the Griffith University Young Adult Book Award at the 2015 Queensland Literary Awards. The Shadow Girl won the 2012 Victorian Premier's Award for young adult fiction.

Life and career

Larkin was born in the South Yorkshire mining town of Maltby, Yorkshire, England. His mother, Pat, was also from Maltby and his father Brendan is originally from Ireland. The family emigrated to Australia in the late 1960s landing in Sydney on Christmas Eve 1969. John is the middle child of three. He has an older sister Trish and a younger brother Paul who currently lives in Western Australia, although John currently lives in Sydney. Larkin attended Toongabbie Public School and Pendle Hill High School. He studied English Literature at Macquarie University, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, a Bachelor of Education and a Master's in Creative Writing. He is now still writing books and also teaches at schools such as Knox Grammar Preparatory School. Larkin has a daughter named Chantelle, whom is studying to be a doctor.