Patrick Ness

Patrick Ness is a British-American author, journalist, and screenwriter best known for his award-winning young adult fiction. Born in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, to an American military family, he spent parts of his childhood in the United States before moving to the United Kingdom, where he studied English Literature at University of California, Los Angeles and later settled in London. Before becoming a full-time novelist, he worked as a journalist and literary critic, writing for newspapers and magazines.

Ness achieved international recognition with the Chaos Walking trilogy, beginning with The Knife of Never Letting Go, which earned widespread critical acclaim for its imaginative world-building and exploration of power, violence, and morality. He later became even more widely known for A Monster Calls, a novel based on an original idea by Siobhan Dowd. The book won both the Carnegie Medal and the Kate Greenaway Medal, an unprecedented achievement, and was later adapted into a feature film for which Ness wrote the screenplay.

Throughout his career, Ness has explored themes of identity, grief, courage, love, and the moral complexities of growing up. His novels frequently combine speculative or fantastical elements with emotionally grounded storytelling, earning him a reputation as one of the most influential voices in contemporary young adult literature. In addition to fiction, he has written screenplays, television episodes, and works for younger readers.