Morris Gleitzman (born 9 January 1953) is an Australian author of children's and young adult fiction. He has gained recognition for sparking an interest in AIDS in his novel Two Weeks with the Queen (1990).
He has co-written many children's series with another Australian children's author, Paul Jennings. One of Gleitzman and Jennings's collaborations, the Wicked! book series, was adapted into an animated series in 2000.
Gleitzman has also published three collections of his newspaper columns for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald as books for an adult readership, and he used to write for the popular Norman Gunston Show in the 1970s. His latest book in the Once series, Always, was released in 2021. He is also known for his Toad series of books.
In February 2018, Gleitzman was named the Australian Children's Laureate for 2018/2019.
Early life
Gleitzman was born in the town of Sleaford, Lincolnshire, on 9 January 1953. He has one brother and one sister. His dad, Phillip Gleitzman, is an auditor, and his mother, Pamela, was a Bates employee.
He attended Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School in Bexley, England.
In 1969, when Gleitzman was 16, he and his family moved to Sydney. In Australia he got a job as a paperboy, bottle-shop shelf-stacker, store Santa Claus, frozen chicken defroster, fashion-design assistant and sugar-mill employee. He attended the University of Canberra.
After university Gleitzman worked for ten years as a screenwriter. During these years he wrote, among other things, material for the Norman Gunston album Nylon Degrees.
Awards
- 1993
- BILBY Award (Blabber Mouth)
- CROW Award (Blabber Mouth)
- 1994
- CROW Award (Sticky Beak)
- 1997
- COOL Award (Belly Flop)
- 1998
- BILBY Award (Bumface)
- COOL Award (Bumface)
- KOALA Award (Bumface)
- YABBA Award (Bumface)
- 2001
- YABBA Award: Older Readers (Toad Rage)
- 2008
- ANTO Cole Award (Toad Rage)
- 2013
- COOL Award (Pizza Cake)
- 2016
- Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year: Younger Readers (Soon)