Martin Jenkins
Children's Nonfiction Author & Conservation Biologist
Children's Nonfiction
Conservation Biology
Writing
Research
Education
Professional Status
Employed
Available
About Me
I was born in Surrey in 1959 and grew up moving between Spain, Ireland, and Kent before studying at Cambridge University. Before I turned to writing full time, I spent roughly ten years as a conservation biologist at the World Conservation Monitoring Centre in Cambridge, then went freelance in 1990, working with organizations including WWF and various UN agencies on projects that took me around the world investigating everything from orchid smuggling in Germany to the chameleon trade in Madagascar.
I moved into children's publishing after Walker Books invited me to advise on their Animals at Risk series, and I've since written more than fifty books, most published by Walker Books in the UK and Candlewick Press in the US. My natural history and conservation titles include The Emperor's Egg, Can We Save the Tiger?, Ape, Chameleons Are Cool, Fabulous Frogs, Puffin, A Walk Through the Rainforest, and Life: The First Four Billion Years. I've also written prose retellings of two illustrated classics, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver and Don Quixote, both with artwork by Chris Riddell. The Emperor's Egg won the Times Junior Information Book of the Year Award, and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver won the 2004 Kate Greenaway Medal. I split my time between Cambridge and London.
I moved into children's publishing after Walker Books invited me to advise on their Animals at Risk series, and I've since written more than fifty books, most published by Walker Books in the UK and Candlewick Press in the US. My natural history and conservation titles include The Emperor's Egg, Can We Save the Tiger?, Ape, Chameleons Are Cool, Fabulous Frogs, Puffin, A Walk Through the Rainforest, and Life: The First Four Billion Years. I've also written prose retellings of two illustrated classics, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver and Don Quixote, both with artwork by Chris Riddell. The Emperor's Egg won the Times Junior Information Book of the Year Award, and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver won the 2004 Kate Greenaway Medal. I split my time between Cambridge and London.
Freelance Author and Conservation Consultant
Self-employed
Since 1990
- Writes nonfiction books for young readers on natural history and conservation, alongside ongoing freelance consulting for conservation organizations including WWF and several United Nations agencies. Field assignments have included investigating orchid smuggling in Germany, timber trafficking in Kenya, and the chameleon trade in Madagascar.
Author Advisor, Animals at Risk series
Walker Books
Since 1990
- Brought on by Walker Books to advise on their Animals at Risk series, the project that led directly into his career as a children's author. Has since written more than fifty books, most published by Walker Books in the UK and Candlewick Press in the US, including The Emperor's Egg, Can We Save the Tiger?, Ape, Chameleons Are Cool, Fabulous Frogs, and Life: The First Four Billion Years. Also a regular contributor to Walker's Read and Wonder, Science Storybooks, and Find Out About series, and author of prose retellings of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver and Don Quixote, both illustrated by Chris Riddell.
Conservation Biologist
World Conservation Monitoring Centre
1980
to 1990
- Worked as a conservation biologist for roughly ten years, based in Cambridge, ahead of his freelance and writing career. Built the field expertise in wildlife trade and endangered species that would later inform his books.
- Nonfiction Writing for Children
- Natural History Storytelling
- Wildlife Trade Investigation
- Endangered Species Research
Languages
- English
-
Native
- Wildlife, natural history, and field conservation, especially birds, reptiles, and endangered species.