Judith Clarke is an educator, librarian, lecturer and writer. She attended the University of New South Wales in 1964 and Australian National University in 1966, graduating both with honours. Clarke writes solemn novels relating to real life about conflicting crises, aiming her stories for young adults and teenagers. She writes in an incisive poetic prose with great compassion, using mature themes.
The talented author was born on August 24th, 1943 in Sydney, Australia. When she was only four years old, she had not attended school yet but had attempted to ‘write’ a book by scribbling symbols like long wavy lines. She even created chapters about a tale of a doll’s adventure. During Clarke’s early life, she never saw herself as becoming a writer for her career. It was a hobby she started doing and as stated, “…All of the kids in my neighbourhood were boys, and though they let my sister and I play with them, they pinched our marbles and comics and bashed us up. Writing stories was less dangerous."
Clarke’s first successful, published novel was The Heroic Life of Al Capsella; which also turned out to be the first book of the Al Capsella series, set in Australia. Al Capsella, a teenage boy, is like any other typical fourteen year old kid who wants to be cool and fit in with the crowd. However, he finds his attempts worthless with his embarrassing parents blocking his way towards success. Al’s parents are loving and caring, but can be unusual and rather odd. All the boy wants is for them to be normal and ordinary like most of his friends’ parents but he soon realises that being normal may not be a completely positive thing after all. This novel shows how Judith can really relate to a teenager’s perspective and feelings. Night Train, yet another well written novel that proves Clarke’s ability to relate with young adults’ behaviour in depth, is about a depressed teenage boy, Luke. The intelligent teenager, who is somehow failing his studies at school, enters depression from the lack of love and acceptance he needs from his family; except his youngest sister, Naomi, who is the only person left that understands his situation. Luke begins to wonder if he has gone insane when he hears the sound of the night train passing by during midnight, because no one else seems to hear it. Clarke sets this story for young adults who can truly comprehend the protagonist’s teenage life issues, relating to depression and suicide. Another story, a more contrasting plot, is the haunting mystery novel, Starry Nights. It is about a teenage girl, Jess, whose family was happy and normal until they move to a new house. Jess’s sister, Vida has become excessively obsessed with the wide varieties of magic, and her brother, Clem has become unusually reserved. The children’s mum becomes sick and the now suspicious girl senses someone invisible stalking her. Jess is willing to solve the peculiar mystery on her own.
The inspired writer had earned many awards. A few of these included New South Wales Premier's Award shortlist, Editors' Choice designation, Booklist, Best Book for Young Adults designation and American Library Association for The Heroic Life of Al Capsella. For Night Train, she also earned the Victorian Premier's Award for Young-Adult Novel, and Honour Book designation, CBCA.
In conclusion, Clarke has written two series, 12 novels and 4 collections since 1981 and her latest book is ‘The Winds of Heaven’. She has an amazing ability to convey complex emotions, particularly relating with young adults and writes with great compassion. Judith imprints legacies mainly for teenagers behind her writings; as her novels really let the readers absorb in the enchanting stories. During the late life of the romantic writer, Clarke married an anthropologist and had a son, Yask, two years later after she received an advanced degree from the Australian National University. She is still alive, continuously being an award-winning, incisive, poetic author.
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