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John Owen Theobald is a novelist and BAFTA Rocliffe winning screenwriter. He is the author of the best-selling Ravenmaster Trilogy of novels (Zephyr), and the forthcoming historical epic, The Drowned Land (Head of Zeus, Mar 2024).

As a screenwriter, John’s work has been selected for the Austin Film Festival (TV pilot competition), ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship (TV screenplay), BFI Flare (short film), and winner of the BAFTA Rocliffe screenplay competition 2018 (feature script).

His feature screenplay ‘Goblin Market’ (co-written with Jacqueline Pepall), exploring the life of poet Christina Rossetti, was a recipient of the BFI Early Development Fund and shortlisted for the 2021 Sundance Development Track scheme.

Since 2015, John has been a screenwriter-in-residence at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, London.

John's short fiction has appeared in Bookanista, Untitled Books, The Menteur, and The Four Quarters Magazine.

His non-fiction work includes If On a Winter's Night a Fox, a passionate defence of urban foxes, exploring the fox’s role in folklore and culture from Roman Times to modern London (2014, Remarkable Books).

In 2017, John created and launched the educational program 'These Dark Wings: Beyond the Book,' in collaboration with the Tower of London, Historic Royal Palaces, and Arts Council England, providing free writing workshops for young people and learning events for schools from deprived areas.

He recently completed work on a short drama created in collaboration with and featuring young refugees and asylum seekers, with support from the Hospital Club and the Mohamed S. Farsi Foundation.

Born and raised in Eastern Canada, John moved to the UK to study the poetry of Keats, and in 2009 received a PhD from the University of St. Andrews. He lives in London, England.

Find John on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.