AN author who waited ten years for his book to be published because his publisher thought it was too dark for children has won a prestigious award.

Kevin Brooks, now living in Richmond, North Yorkshire, but originally from a village near Exeter, said he was thrilled to have been honoured with the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals annual Carnegie Medal for an outstanding book for children for The Bunker Diary.

Mr Brooks said the award - presented at a ceremony in London today (Monday) - meant a great deal to him as he had been shortlisted several times before with his other works.

He said: “It was not only a long time coming for this book but I have been shortlisted before so this feels fantastic.

“The Bunker Diary was deemed too dark and 'without hope' for a long time by my publisher, but I kept pestering until they gave in – they still had doubts about it though so it is great to get recognition for it.”

The Bunker Diary is about a teenage boy held captive in an underground bunker, his struggle for survival, attempts to escape and his view of the world.

Mr Brooks said: “I love books such as Lord of the Flies that take a character out of their natural environment and examine the human condition, so this was my attempt at that.

“I think that it is a bleak and dark book, but there is hope in it. As readers, children - and teens in particular - don't need to be cosseted with artificial hope that there will always be a happy ending.

“They’re not babies, they don’t need to be told not to worry, that everything will be all right in the end, because they’re perfectly aware that in real life things aren’t always all right in the end.

“I could have got the book published years ago if I’d rewritten it – toned it down, changed the ending, explained a lot of unexplained things – but to me that would have meant writing a book that I didn’t want to write.”

Mr Brooks’ prize was £500 worth of books for a library of his choice. He opted for the library he used to go to as a child in Pinhoe, near Exeter, rather than in Richmond.

“It was a tough decision because I have lived in Richmond for six years now and feel very much at home there, but Pinhoe Library was where my mother used to take me so it is really for her,” he said.

The award was established in 1936 in memory of Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie who set up around 2,800 libraries around the world.