Mal Peet wins Guardian Prize

On Thursday night popular children’s writer, Mal Peet won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize.

Peet’s modern take on Othello, Exposure won the prize to much praise. Up against three others, Mr Peet said: “I’ve always had my eye on the Guardian prize but it’s always evaded me.”

In 2007 Mal Peet was long listed for the same prize to no avail.

Chair of judges Julia Eccleshare said Peet was able to “handle big themes with supreme confidence” adding that “he is a very good storyteller”.

Peet who did not attempt his first novel until the age of 52 said that writing was “a form of licensed madness.”

Also shortlisted were the Late Siobhan Dowd's Bogchild, Terry Pratchett's Nation and Morris Gleitzman's Then.

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