M.T. Anderson

Today on Writers at Work, I'll be speaking with M.T. Anderson, an author of enormous imagination. His latest novel, NICKED, is his first for adult readers. It's set in 1087, and a gang of misfits is sailing to what's known today as Turkey to recover the 700-year-old bones of St. Nicholas. Yes, that St. Nicholas. But NICKED is not a Christmas story. It is an amazement aptly described as a swashbuckling saga, a meditation on miraculous, and medieval noir. And it features a wonderful character, Brother Nicephorus, a gentle dreamer who, in his innocence, may be the wisest participant in this adventure. Matthew Tobin Anderson has had three of his novels shortlisted for the National Book Award in the Young Person's Literature category. His THE ASTONISHING LIFE OF OCTAVIAN NOTHING, TRAITOR TO THE NATION, VOL. I: THE POX PARTY, won that award. This year, his ELF DOG & OWL HEAD received a Newbery Honor.   TIME magazine called his 2002 novel FEED one of the 100 Best YA Books of All Time. FEED portrays a dystopian society in which the citizenry is controlled by implants that permit, among other things, an endless barrage of messages from corporations. Through his novels and his picture books, he's also introduced young readers to classical musicians Frederick Handel, Eric Sati and Dmitri Shostakovich.