Markus Zusak

Fast Facts:

• Markus began writing at the age of 16, and credits THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA and WHAT’S EATING GILBERT GRAPE as the books that inspired him to become an author.
  
  
• Markus has written five critically-acclaimed and award-winning novels, THE UNDERDOG, FIGHTING RUBEN WOLFE, GETTING THE GIRL, I AM THE MESSENGER, and THE BOOK THIEF.
  
  
• Markus’s I AM THE MESSENGER was awarded the 2006 Printz Honor for excellence in young adult literature.
  
  
• Markus’s idea for THE BOOK THIEF stemmed from the stories his parents had told him about their childhood experiences during the World War II bombings in Munich and Vienna. An incident that takes place in the book --- in which one of the characters gives a piece of bread to an old Jewish man being marched through town on the way to a concentration camp --- was based on an actual event his mother had witnessed.
  
  
• Markus lives in Sydney, and enjoys surfing on his spare time.
  
  

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