MARK HADDON is an author, illustrator and screenwriter who has written 15 books for children and won two BAFTAs. His bestselling novel, THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME was published simultaneously by Jonathan Cape and David Fickling in 2003. It won seventeen literary prizes, including the Whitbread Award. His poetry collection, THE TALKING HORSE AND THE SAD GIRL AND THE VILLAGE UNDER THE SEA was published by Picador in 2005. Mark Haddon lives in Oxford.