I've just heard the sad news that Jan Mark died unexpectedly last night. Some deaths affect us more than others and this news has left me feeling very empty. I knew Jan a bit; our paths crossed a few times over the years. We had the same agent back in the 80s and on a couple of other occasions she was very helpful to me with my writing. Once she spent more than an hour encouraging me to write what I felt most strongly about, and not to worry about publishers who she didn't believe knew what they were doing anyway.

She could be quite a spiky character and was certainly not media-smooth but that was all part of what will be most missed about her: that of all recent children's writers she was perhaps the most original and independently-minded. Her books were always different and unpredictable. Because she was such a good writer and had established herself as such for many years, she was able to write pretty much whatever she wanted to.

The last time I saw her, I said that I'd been talking to her current agent a while back, and asked him the question, "If a new writer came along today, who was as good and as varied with her stuff as Jan Mark, would you take her on?" And he'd said, "No." I thought this was a neat example of how hard it is today to write what you want to write, and told her this. But she replied, "No - he just doesn't like me very much!"

Philip Pullman attributes the success of 'Northern Lights' to the fact that Jan Mark wrote the first review of it, in the Sunday Times, six months after it came out and when no one had yet really noticed it.

Terry

Terry

Sad to hear that news.

Strange that you mentioned her to me only today.

I don't know her work but I will read her now.

Pete

Very sad news. I haven't read her work lately, but loved it as a teenager. And she was an excellent critic too.

Emma

Sad news, indeed, Terry. I remember meeting her at Oxfors and having that conversation where you were present and she poo-pooed synopsis. What a great lady!

Emma,

Given your love of acting, you might enjoy a recent book by Jan called 'Stratford Boys'. It's about Shakespeare, as a teenager, writing and putting on his first play. The characters are great and there's lots of very good insights into leadership and the necessary selfishness of the writer.

Terry

Jem,

Was it you who asked her how to write a synopsis? Yes, I thought that was funny, when she said she hated them and had never written one. I suspect the How to Submit to Agents section of her creative writing classes was a short one!

Terry

Yes, that was me, terry. perhaps we should all raise a glass. I will definitely read the Shakespeare novel. Thanks for that, Emma.

Terry,

That's really sad. A true original.

Sue

The sad passing of a true writer and an individualist.

Len

I think I read Thunder and Lightnings when I was younger, and from what I can remember I enjoyed it.

Her writing will live on.

JB

I'm shocked to hear of Jan Mark's death - thanks for posting this, Terry. Have any obituaries appeared yet, or is it too soon? I love the story about her agent.

Frances

Frances,

There's a good one in The Independent today.

Terry

P.S. By the way, I should have said 'publisher' not 'agent' (i.e. David Fickling).

Thanks for pointing out the obituary in The Independent, Terry. I found it very moving and inspiring.

Myrtle

Fascinating obituary in The Guardian today - co-written by David Fickling, Philip Pullman and Jon Appleton.

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It seems David Fickling liked her more than she thought!

Here's a link: Jan Mark

I attended a seminar by Jan last year. Sad news.

Colin