Joseph Delaney biography
Joseph Delaney is a retired English teacher living in Lancashire. His home is in the middle of Boggart territory and his village has a boggart called the Hall Knocker, which was laid to rest under the step of a house near the church.
Most of the places in the Spook's books are based on real places in Lancashire. And the inspiration behind the stories often comes from local ghost stories and legends. The Spook's Apprentice, The Spook's Curse and The Spook's Secret have all been shortlisted for the Lancashire children's Book for the Year Award. The Spook's Apprentice is the winner of both the Sefton Book Award and the Hampshire Book Award.
The Spook's Apprentice spent 7 weeks in the Best-seller charts and sold over 35,000 copies in the first few months. The Spooks series is published in 24 countries: UK, USA, France, Germany. Hungary, Italy, Japan, Poland, Portugal, Brazil, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, The Netherlands, Greece, Israel, Thailand, Turkey and Indonesia. Life Sales World Wide across all titles are over 1 million copies!
Joseph Delaney books
- The Spook's Apprentice (2004)
- The Spook's Curse (2005)
- The Spook's Secret (2006)
- The Spook's Battle (2007)
- The Spook's Mistake (2008)
- The Spook's Sacrifice (2009)
Latest news: Joseph Delaney
Harriet Wilson joins HarperCollins Children's Books
Harriet Wilson is to join HarperCollins Children's Books as Editorial Director. She will commission and develop authors and series across the fiction list with a particular focus at the younger end. Harriet Wilson began her career in children's publishing at Random House Children's Books in 2000. S [...]
The Toymaker by Jeremy De Quidt reviewed on Fantasy Book Review
What good is a toy that will wind down? What if you could put a heart in one? A real heart. One that beat and beat and didn't stop. What couldn't you do if you could make a toy like that? From the moment Mathias becomes the owner of a mysterious piece of paper, he is in terrible danger. Entangled in [...]
Joseph Delaney meets the young Spooks in Priestown
Last Friday, fantasy author Joseph Delaney, could be found signing copies of his latest Spook’s book, The Spook’s Stories: Witches at The Corner Bookshop, Garstang, near Preston (or Priestown as it is known in his Wardstone Chronicles). Preston-born Delaney met fans who were dressed up as their fa [...]
North West youngster's given chance to shine
The search is on to find youngsters with star quality to compete in Wyre's Got Talent. It will include circus skills, free family sports, discounted swimming at the neighbouring Fleetwood Leisure Centre, Lord of the Rings stage fighting and a book signing by Spook's Apprentice writer Joseph Delane [...]
Audio-book review: The Spook’s Apprentice read by Daniel Weyman
Thomas Ward is the seventh son of a seventh son and has been apprenticed to the local Spook. The job is hard, the Spook is distant, and many apprentices have failed before Thomas. Somehow, Thomas must learn how to exorcise ghosts, contain witches and bind boggarts. But when he is tricked into freei [...]
The Spook’s Tale by Joseph Delaney
Dare you face the dark?
‘How would you like to train as a spook?
I need a brave lad for my line of work…’
The Spook keeps the County safe from creatures of the dark; things that suck your blood and snatch your bones and squeeze the breath from your body. When young John Gregory stumbles into [...]
Borders UK celebrate World Book Day
Over the years World Book Day has become firmly established as the biggest annual event promoting the enjoyment of books, and this year is no exception with every Borders store hosting a range of in-store promotions and activities. JP Hunting, Children's Buyer at Borders UK, summed up the enthusias [...]
Lucky Lancashire reader wins iPod and Wardstone Chronicles
One Lancashire reader scooped top prize at a special ceremony on the 16th of January as part of Lancashire Reads and the National Year of Reading 2008 celebrations. Tina Jones from Barton was picked from over 200 correct entries for the 'How well do you know Lancashire?' quiz which invited people to [...]
World Book Day 2009
Reading is one of life's great pleasures and for more than a decade millions of readers, young and old, have shared the thrill of a good read on World Book Day - 2009 promises to be no different! Sometimes reading can be even more fun if it is a guilty pleasure rather than a virtuous one. This year [...]
Joseph Delaney opens Ribblesdale library
Staff and pupils welcomed acclaimed author Joseph Delaney to celebrate the opening of their revamped school library. Over the summer, Ribblesdale High School Technology College, Clitheroe, was treated to a massive make-over to create a new learning resource centre/library. Pupils were happy to see [...]
Joseph Delaney interviews
Joseph Delaney interview with the BBC
Joseph Delaney interview with FantasyBookReview.co.uk
Random House interview Joseph Delaney for The Spook's Apprentice
Joseph Delaney critical acclaim
The Spook's Battle:
'. . . ideal for the reader who has outgrown Harry Potter. Be warned, these books are seriously scary . . .
Beautifully produced and consistently surprising the weird and wonderful Wardstone Chronicles are an annual treat.' Amanda Craig
The Spook's Apprentice:
'Teenage readers looking instead for total fantasy should hasten to Joseph Delaney's The Spook's Apprentice' The Independent
Praise for The Wardstone Chronicles:
"The Wardstone Chronicles remain one of the strongest ongoing series of the moment" Write Away!
Book of the Month
Apartment 16 by Adam Nevill
Some doors are better left closed . . . In Barrington House, an upmarket block in London, there is an empty apartment. No one goes in, no one comes out. And it’s been that way for fifty years. Until the night watchman hears a disturbance after midnight and investigates. What he experiences is enough to change his life forever.
Latest interviews
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Special Feature: Fantasy Book Review talks to the Book View Cafe
Book View Cafe is a cooperative site created by a group of writers - including internationally renowned authors Katharine Kerr, Ursula Le Guin and Vonda N. McIntyre - who want to take advantage of the internet's possibilities for reaching a wider audience and to distribute their work directly to their readers. The Book View Cafe is a place where you can find free, original fiction plus the authors' best and out-of-print work for a fee. Fantasy Book Review spoke to Book View Cafe member, science fiction author and memoirist Chris Dolley in February 2010.
Special Feature: Understanding the author of Alice in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll, the elusive author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, has been the subject of enduring fascination for the past hundred years. The destruction of many major documents about his personal life by his descendants has only magnified the mystery. Jenny Woolf's biography, published to coincide with the release of the new Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland film, lays waste to the myths and suspicions that have obscured Carroll's reputation by placing him firmly in the context of his own time.
