(Click here for a list of his works)
Marsden was born in Melbourne (Victoria) on 27 September 1950. His parents were Eustace Cullen Hudson and Jeanne Lawler Marsden.
He grew up in Kyneton (Victoria) and Devonport (Tasmania). At the age of ten, his family relocated to Sydney, where he attended the King’s School (in Parramatta). He subsequently went to the University of Sydney, where he enrolled in arts and law courses, but dropped out. He later studied for a teaching qualification, and then worked as an English teacher.
John Marsden wrote dozens of books, including many novels written for young adults.
His first book, a young adult novel, was So Much to Tell You (1987), which was highly popular, received a number of literary awards, and was translated into several languages.
However, his most famous novel was Tomorrow, When the War Began (1993), a story about some teenagers who have to deal with an invasion of Australia; the novel was translated into various languages (Chinese, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and Swedish), and was made into a movie (2010) and a TV series (2016).
Marsden then turned his invasion novel into a story spanning seven books (The Tomorrow series): Tomorrow, When the War Began (1993), The Dead of Night (1994), The Third Day, the Frost (1995) (which was published in America as A Killing Frost), Darkness, Be My Friend (1996), Burning for Revenge (1997), The Night is for Hunting (1998), and The Other Side of Dawn (1999). This was followed by The Ellie Chronicles, a series of three books which dealt with the life of Ellie Linton (the main character of the Tomorrow series) in Wirrawee after the war: While I Live (2003), Incurable (2005), and Circle of Flight (2006).
It has been estimated that five million copies of Marsden’s books have been sold worldwide. With the wealth derived from his book sales, Marsden did not simply lie back and take it easy, as many would, but sought to bring improvements to the education system.
As a teacher, John Marsden had his own thoughts on the way that children should be educated; to put his ideas into practice, he founded two schools, Candlebark (Romsey, Vic.) and Alice Miller (Macedon, Vic.), which offer a non-traditional education to students.
As an historical aside, the Marsden family has a connection with Australia’s colonial history, as John Marsden’s great-great-great-great uncle was the Rev. Samuel Marsden (1765-1838), the well-known Anglican clergyman and magistrate of colonial New South Wales. As a magistrate, Samuel Marsden had a reputation for being overly-zealous in ordering convicts to be flogged (whipped), and so became known as “the Flogging Parson”.
John Marsden’s death was reported on 18 December 2024 (he died at the age of 74). He was survived by his wife, Kristin.
Books by John Marsden:
Works of John Marsden
References and further reading:
“John Marsden”, AustLit
“About John Marsden”, John Marsden
“John Marsden is an outlaw of education”, ABC, 14 June 2018
“Acclaimed Australian writer John Marsden, author of the Tomorrow series, dies aged 74”, ABC News, 18 December 2024
Sian Cain, “John Marsden, author of Tomorrow, When the War Began, dies aged 74”, The Guardian, 18 December 2024
Lachlan Abbott and Debbie Cuthbertson, “Acclaimed Australian author John Marsden dies aged 74”, The Sydney Morning Herald, 18 December 2024
Sarita Ryan and staff, “Some Sad News”, The Sydney Morning Herald (memo from the staff of the Candlebark and Alice Miller schools, founded by John Marsden) [refers to “the 5 million books he sold”]
Judd Boaz and Sarah Lawrence “After ‘surviving’ negative experiences in the classroom, author John Marsden founded his own school to try to improve the system”, ABC News, 20 December 2024
“Candlebark”, Candlebark and Alice Miller schools
“The Tomorrow Series”, Richard Simpson
“John Marsden (writer)”, Wikipedia
“So Much to Tell You”, Wikipedia
“Tomorrow, When the War Began”, Wikipedia
“Tomorrow, When the War Began (film)”, Wikipedia
“Tomorrow, When the War Began (TV series)”, Wikipedia
“Samuel Marsden”, Wikipedia
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