AS a boy, David Almond was a regular visitor to Newcastle's quayside market with his grandfather.

The sights and sounds fascinated him, particularly the strongman/escapologist who used to perform there. He has vivid memories of the man sticking pins in himself, balancing a cartwheel on his head and wrapping himself in chains. He never learned his name but in his latest book, he is transformed into McNulty - a mysterious fire-eater.

It's typical of David's style. Although his books do have a strong mystical element, he has eschewed the full-blown magic and fantasy favoured by JK Rowling and Philip Pullman. His stories show the extraordinary things that can happen in everyday life and are full of incidents and places from his childhood. It helps give them the sense of realism of which he's so proud.

"People have tried to describe me as a fantasy writer but I'm not. My books use real places and real people and although they do have almost magical things going on in them, they have to be realistic," he says.

The Fire-Eaters has just been named Whitbread Children's Book of the Year - one of a growing number of awards David has garnered over the last five years.

The book is set in 1962 at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and takes place in Newcastle and an imaginary village in South Northumberland called Keely Bay, not far from where David grew up in Felling.

At the centre of the story is the narrator, Bobby Burns, his meeting with McNulty and the effect it has on his life. It's also about the community in which he lives and his friends, who include a seacoaler's daughter who seems able to work miracles, and their reaction to the Cuban Missile Crisis

"I was the same age as Bobby Burns in 1962. Bobby Burns isn't me but we share some experiences. I remember the Cuban Missile Crisis very well and I've drawn on my childhood in my writing."

David, who lives near Hexham, grew up in a large Catholic family and wanted to be a writer from a very early age. His mother told him that as a baby, she used to take him to a printworks owned by an uncle, where he would laugh and point at the pages as they came off the rollers. His love of the printed word was obviously instilled him when he was just a few months old and as a young boy, he scribbled stories down in little notebooks. A regular visitor to the local library, he dreamed about seeing his books on the shelves one day.

But it was only five years ago, with the publication of the hugely successful Skelling, that he was able to make a living from writing.

Before that, he had a variety of jobs, including hotel porter, postman and teacher.

He worked for five years in a primary school in Gateshead and while he was there, his first short stories were published in magazines. He had two collections of adult stories published in 1985 and 1997 but the novel he had spent five years writing was rejected by every publisher. It was then he found himself writing Skellig, a book he describes as a "gift" for 15 years of writing without much public recognition or reward.

"Children's books came as a surprise to me. I thought that at some point I might write one but then I found myself writing Skellig. I was half way down the first page and I thought, 'Oh, this is a children's book'. I felt liberated and excited that I had stepped into a place where I was able to write the best I could."

Readers and critics agreed. Skellig, which was published in 1998, tells the story of a strange, winged creature that changes a boy's life when he finds it in his garage. It won the prestigious Carnegie Medal, as well as the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year award.

David later adapted Skellig for the stage and it is currently being performed at the Young Vic in London, directed by Trevor Nunn, with David Threlfall in the title role.

"I've learned a lot from working in the theatre. Children don't categorise things the way adults do. The difference between drama and fiction doesn't really exist for them. If you tell them the story of Hansel and Gretel, they'll start acting it out. This has been a fantastic experience."

David followed Skellig with Kit's Wilderness, Heaven Eyes and Secret Heart - all of which were set in the North-East.

His characters, he says, usually just pop into his head; he was struggling with another book called The Apprentice when he had the idea for the Fire-Eaters. The Apprentice was abandoned.

When writing, his only concern is to keep his young readers turning the pages.

"With a children's book, you have to be quite clear about what you are doing but they are interested in the big questions like where do I come from and where am I going. It's no good talking down to them."

Children's literature is hugely popular at the moment and there is a large crossover market for adults. Philip Pullman was the first author to win the overall Whitbread prize with a children's book two years ago. David has no doubts about the reasons.

"I think children's fiction has been overlooked for some time but there are some really good writers at the minute. I suppose a lot of it is about good storytelling; you have to have a good narrative for it to appeal to children but that appeals to adults as well. The best children's books deal with the important issues and it doesn't matter who reads them."

* The overall winner of the Whitbread Book of the Year will be decided at the end of the month. See the Books page tomorrow for a list of the other nominees.