Vale John Marsden

John Marsden, the author of the award-winning, best-selling YA 'Tomorrow' series, has died at 74.
John Marsden, an man with grey hair and a red jumper smiling. There are shelves of books behind him.

The literary community has woken up to the devastating news of the death of one of the giants of OzLit. John Marsden has died at age 74. Born in 1950 in Melbourne, the writer has over 40 books to his name, with his works not only translated into multiple languages, but also winning every major award in Australia for young people’s fiction.

Even though Marsden’s suite of creative works includes picture books, poetry and non-fiction, he was best known for his hugely influential novel, Tomorrow, When The War began (1993), the first of a series of young adult novels that tracked a fictional rural town in Australia being invaded and occupied by a foreign force, and a guerrilla-band of teenagers, led by resourceful protagonist Ellie Linton, who resisted capitulation and fought back. The book was later made into a feature film (2010) and then a TV series (2016).

Unlock Padlock Icon

Unlock this content?

Access this content and more

Thuy On is the Reviews and Literary Editor of ArtsHub and an arts journalist, critic and poet who’s written for a range of publications including The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, Sydney Review of Books, The Australian, The Age/SMH and Australian Book Review. She was the Books Editor of The Big Issue for 8 years and a former Melbourne theatre critic correspondent for The Australian. Her debut, a collection of poetry called Turbulence, came out in 2020 and was released by University of Western Australia Publishing (UWAP). Her second collection, Decadence, was published in July 2022, also by UWAP. Her third book, Essence, will be published in 2025. Threads: @thuy_on123 Instagram: poemsbythuy