The Crush (23 page)

Born in Macksville, NSW, and now living in Adelaide, 25-year-old Scott Monk is the author of three novels. His first book,
Boyz'R'Us
was published in 1996, his second
Raw
in 1998 and his third
The Crush
in 2000.

Scott began writing at the age of 13 as a class assignment set by his Year 8 English teacher. Little did she expect that he would produce a 220-page manuscript—then ask her to mark it! After several failures, he wrote
Boyz'R'Us
when he was 19. It was published by Random House when he was 21.

Boyz'R'Us
won the Royal Blind Society's Talking Book of the Year Award for younger readers. His second novel,
Raw
, published when he was 23, is one of very few young adult novels listed for study for the 2001 Higher School Certificate in NSW. His latest offering,
The Crush
, is about a 15-year-old rugby league player who falls in love with his enemy's girlfriend.

Not content with being an author, Scott joined
The Advertiser
newspaper in 1996 as a cadet journalist. He has written several hundred stories since about murders, shootings, celebrities, the nude Olympics and a pig that went to council. In 1999, he won South Australia's Young Journalist of the Year Award for his commitment to youth affairs. He currently works as the Education Editor at
The Advertiser
, where he produces a weekly four-page section.

Scott's loves include Indian food, photography, cricket, chocolate, movies, thunderstorms, frogs, going to the gym and bodyboarding.