Mark Pardoe

Author

As a child, Mark Pardoe had his sights firmly set on being an internationally famous soccer star who won Formula One races in his spare time.

Perhaps fortunately, these days Mark Pardoe is a part time primary school teacher who writes children’s fiction. Mark’s aim is to both entertain and challenge his readers. His writing employs a distinctive humour that can be read and enjoyed by a wide audience.

Where were you born?

I was born in Oxford, England but have moved around a fair bit spending some time in both Malaysia and Melbourne before settling in Perth.

What other jobs have you had?

After spending many years trying to succeed in the corporate world I finally found my calling and retrained as primary school teacher. These days I share my time pretty much equally between teaching and writing.

What themes are recurring in your work?

I like to use humour to carry the themes that most resonate with my readers such as school life, relationships and the challenges of growing up. I also like to explore how kids sometimes see the world through a complex mix of naivety and external influences.

What have been the highlights of your career?

Right up there would have to be having kids tell me how much they’ve enjoyed one of my books. But perhaps even better is when parents have told me that their child has suddenly discovered that they like reading after all.

What are you passionate about?

I’m very passionate about saving the planet, achieving world peace and finishing my next book (not necessarily in that order). On a more serious note – getting kids to love reading is a bit of a pet project of mine too.

Anything else you’d like to share with us?

As a kid myself, I briefly became quite famous at my old primary school for eating several packets of crayons.