Dear Father Christmas: Have You Lost a Reindeer?

【作者】Alan Durant
亞倫·杜蘭（Alan Durant）創作超過50部跨齡小說與兒童繪本的知名童書作家，代表作包括《Dear Mermaid》以及暢銷作品《Dear Tooth Fairy》。

「文字有一種巨大且能帶來自由的力量。」－亞倫·杜蘭（Alan Durant）

「我的早期創作大多圍繞著青少年生活，靈感來自於自己的親身經歷與迷惘。十四歲那年，我發現了寫作帶來的強大療癒力，這成為我陪伴自己走過低潮青澀歲月的重要支柱。國小時候的我其實對寫作沒什麼興趣，反而夢想成為足球員，但我一直深愛閱讀。我是C·S·路易斯（C. S. Lewis）《The Narnia books》系列、麥可·哈德卡斯爾（Michael Hardcastle）足球故事，以及伊妮·布萊頓（Enid Blyton）《Famous Five》系列的忠實書迷。

而我最珍愛的藏書，是一本1969年出版、上面有著我永遠的偶像喬治·貝斯特簽名『獻給亞倫，喬治·貝斯特贈』的曼徹斯特聯足球俱樂部（Manchester United）年鑑；還有某天在圖書館書架間無意間發現、由梅里奧·特雷弗（Meriol Trevor）所著的《The King of the Castle》。這些書籍至今仍是我最寶貴的收藏，也是啟發我踏上作家之路的最大靈感來源。

至今我已創作了將近八十本書，絕大多數的靈感，最初都是為了娛樂我的三個孩子和他們的朋友而編織出來的故事。我的作品曾榮獲多項大獎，最近期的是憑藉繪本《Billy Monster's Daymare》獲得皇家郵政蘇格蘭兒童圖書獎（The Royal Mail Award for Scottish Children's Books）。

我的創作類型極為豐富且跨越廣泛年齡層，從青少年驚悚小說到幼兒繪本，我也為兒童與成人寫詩。我寫過幽默故事、校園故事、科幻題材，甚至是恐怖小說（雖然不能寫太恐怖，因為我自己也會害怕！）。挑戰不同的故事風格與多樣主題，讓我時刻保持思維敏銳與創作熱情。這正是身為作家的第一鐵則：你必須先娛樂自己，否則該如何奢望去娛樂其他人？

我的作品曾於英國BBC獲獎節目《English Express》中播出，該節目曾榮獲英國電影學院兒童獎（Children's BAFTA Award）；我也曾參與兩集獲獎節目《Let's Write A Story》的演出。身為英國國家閱讀推廣計畫（National Reading Campaign）的『閱讀大使』（Reading Champion），我經常受邀前往英國及海外的學校、圖書館與藝術節舉辦講座、朗讀會與寫作工作坊。我同時也是英國國家寫作教育協會（NAWE）與作家協會（The Society of Authors）的會員。以前我習慣在花園的小木屋裡寫作，但2010年1月搬到布萊頓（Brighton）後，不得不留下我的小屋……或許接下來，我能找間海灘小屋繼續塗鴉我的文字世界。」


Author of over 50 novels and picture books for children of all ages, including Dear Mermaid and the bestselling Dear Tooth Fairy.

My first books were about teenage life and came from my own experiences and concerns – I was fourteen when I discovered the immense and liberating power of writing and it was my main stay during my largely unhappy teenage years. I wasn't that interested in writing at primary school - I wanted to be a footballer - but I always loved reading. I was a big fan of The Narnia books by C S Lewis, Michael Hardcastle’s football stories and Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series My favourite books of all were a Mannchester United Football Year Book from 1969 signed “To Alan from George Best” (my all-time hero) and Meriol Trevor's The King of the Castle that I came across quite by chance looking along a library shelf one day. These books are still my most treasured possessions and were the biggest inspiration to me to become a writer.

I've written nearly eighty books now and most of them started as stories I made up to entertain my three children and their friends. I've won a number of prizes, most recently The Royal Mail Award for Scottish Children's Books for the picture book Billy Monster's Daymare. I write lots of different styles of books and for a wide age-range – from teenage thrillers to picture books. I also write poetry for children and adults. I’ve written spooky books, science-fiction, school stories, funny stories, horror (but not much because it scares me!), thrillers, football… Writing different styles of story about all sorts of different subjects keeps me on my toes and helps to entertain me. That's the first rule of being a writer: you have to entertain yourself - otherwise how can you hope to entertain anyone else?

My work was featured in the BBC series English Express, which won a Children’s Bafta Award. I also appeared in two programmes in the award-winning Let’s Write A Story series. I am a National Reading Campaign Reading Champion and a frequent visitor to schools, libraries and festivals around the UK and abroad where I give talks and readings and run writing workshops. I am a member of NAWE and The Society of Authors. I used to do all my writing in a garden shed, but I moved to Brighton in January 2010 and had to leave my shed behind. Maybe I'll find a beach hut to scribble in...