Markus Zusak

Markus Zusak grew up in Sydney, the youngest of four children. His mother came from Germany and his father from Austria, and they moved to Australia in the late 1950s. He studied English and history at the University of New South Wales and briefly taught English at his old high school while he wrote.

His first novels, beginning with The Underdog (1999), were for young adults. The Messenger (2002) won the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year award for older readers.

The Book Thief (2005) grew from his parents' stories of the war, including his mother's memory of Jewish prisoners marched through her town near Munich. Death narrates the novel. It follows Liesel Meminger, a girl who lives with foster parents in a small German town, steals books, learns to read, and watches her family hide a young Jewish man in the basement. The book has been translated into more than 40 languages and became a film in 2013. Zusak won the Margaret Edwards Award in 2014. His later books are Bridge of Clay (2018) and a memoir, Three Wild Dogs (and the truth).