Piers torday biography

British children's writer (born 1974)

Piers Torday (born 1974) is a British children's writer. The son of the novelist Paul Torday, he was born in Northumberland and was a theatre and television producer for many years.^[1][2]

His book The Dark Wild (2014) won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize for 2014.^[3] After Torday's father died, leaving an unfinished novel manuscript The Death of An Owl, Torday completed the novel.^[1]

Torday's adaptation of John Masefield's The Box of Delights was performed at Wilton's Music Hall in Shadwell in east London between 1 December 2017 and 6 January 2018,^[4] and revived at the same venue between 30 November 2018 and 5 January 2019.^[5] It was revived by the Royal Shakespeare Company from 31 October 2023, running until 7 January 2023.

He has visited schools and libraries across the UK such as Edward Peake Middle School.

Works

• The Lost Magician, 2019
• The Frozen Sea, 2019
• The Last Wild, 2013
• The Dark Wild, 2014
• The Wild Beyond, 2015
• T
  •

  Piers Torday is an award-winning and best-selling children's writer. Books include The Last Wild, The Dark Wild, The Wild Beyond, The Wild Before, There May Be a Castle, The Lost Magician, The Frozen Sea, with the latest one, Midnight Treasure, out in September 2024. His work has been translated into 14 languages. Plays include The Box of Delights (Wilton’s/RSC), Christmas Carol, The Child in the Snow and The Wind in the Wilton’s (Wilton’s Music Hall.) His book There May Be a Castle has been adapted for the stage by the Little Angel Theatre. The son of Paul Torday (Salmon Fishing in the Yemen), he completed his father’s final unfinished novel, The Death of an Owl and co-founded the Paul Torday Memorial Prize for Debut Novelists over 60, now in its sixth and final year. Piers is also Chair of the Society of Authors Sustainability Steering Committee, a trustee of The Unicorn Theatre, Patron of Shrewsbury Book Fest and an Artistic Associate at Wilton’s Music Hall.

  Read full bio
  •

  Piers Torday

  Piers Torday, son of English writer Paul Torday, was born in Northumberland in 1974. He attended Eton College then studied at the University of Oxford. He has worked as a writer for theater, live comedy shows, and television. After attending an Arvon writing course, he wrote his first book for children and adolescents in 2013.

  This fantasy novel »The Last Wild« (2013) is about a twelve-year-old boy who loses his ability to speak after the death of his mother and lives in an institution for children with behavioral problems. Since a »red plague« killed off all animals, people have been living on an artificial nutrient made with different flavors. One day, the boy meets a flock of talking pigeons and thinks he has completely lost his mind. But the encounter is only the beginning of his experiences with the few animals that have survived the mysterious illness. Together with some of them, the boy starts looking for a cure. Torday’s debut was on the shortlist for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and the UKLA Award, and was Calderdale Children’s Bo