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John Marsden (writer)

Australian writer (1950–2024)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 29, 2026
Entity authorityQ977651 ↗
Source-derived summary

John Marsden (27 September 1950 – 18 December 2024) was an Australian writer and teacher. He wrote more than 40 books in his career, including his young adult novel Tomorrow, When the War Began, which began a series of seven books.

Marsden began writing for children while working as a teacher, and had his first book, So Much to Tell You, published in 1987. In 2006, he started an alternative school, Candlebark School, and reduced his writing to focus on teaching and running the school. In 2016, he opened the arts-focused secondary school, Alice Miller School. Both schools are in the Macedon Ranges of Victoria.

Early life and education

John Marsden was born on 27 September 1950 in Melbourne, the son of Eustace Culham Hudson Marsden and Jeanne Lawler Marsden. He had two older siblings. Robin and Andrew (Sam) and a younger sibling, Rosalind. He spent the first 10 years of his life living in the country towns of Kyneton and Devonport, Tasmania.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “John Marsden (writer)” as australian writer (1950–2024). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1950, 2024, 1987, 2006—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1950-09-27, 1950-01-01—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. The account is most persuasive where John, Marsden and writer can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as australian writer (1950–2024). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q977651. VIAF identifies the subject as 41907871. The Library of Congress control number is n88053583. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1950, 2024, 1987 and 2006.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “John Marsden (writer)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow John Marsden (writer) primary sources, John Marsden (writer) archive and John research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “John Marsden (writer)”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “John Marsden (writer)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.