(James) Brian Jacques (born June 15, 1939) is an English author, best known for his Redwall series of novels, as well as the Tribes of Redwall and Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series. He also completed two collections of short stories entitled The Ribbajack & Other Curious Yarns and Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales.
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Biography
Brian Jacques (pronounced Jakes) was born in Liverpool, England, growing up in the area of the Liverpool docks. He is known as Brian because both his father and one of his brothers are also called James. Jacques showed a knack for writing at an early age. At age ten, he was given an assignment of writing a story about animals, and he wrote about a bird that cleaned a crocodile's teeth. His teacher was very impressed with his knack of writing exceptionally well. When Brian told the other children that he had not copied the story, they didn't believe him, because they thought that no one could write that well when they were only 10 years old. He had always loved to write, but it was only then that he realized he had a talent for writing. He attended St. John's private school until the age of 15 when he left school (as was the tradition at the time) and set out to find adventure as a sea merchant sailor. He traveled to many ports but eventually grew tired of the lonely life at sea and returned to Liverpool, where he held a series of different jobs including boxing, bus driver, stand up comic, railway fire man, a policeman, and a post master. Redwall was written for the children of the Royal Waver tree School for the Blind. He first met them when he delivered milk there as a truck driver. He began to spend time with the children and eventually began to write stories for them. This accounts for the very descriptive style of the novel and the ones to follow. His work gained acclaim when Alan Durband, a friend (who also taught Paul McCartney and George Harrison), showed it to his (Durband's) own publisher without telling Jacques. Durband told his publishers: "This is the finest children's tale I've ever read and you'd be foolish not to publish it." Soon after, Jacques was summoned to London to meet with the publishers, who gave him a contract to write the next five books in the series. Jacques has said that the characters in his stories are based on people he has encountered. He based Gonff, the self-proclaimed "Prince of Mouse thieves," on himself when he was a young boy hanging around the docks of Liverpool. Mariel is based on his granddaughter. Constance the Badgermum is based on his grandmother. Other characters are a combination of many of the people he has met in his travels. His novels have sold more than twenty million copies worldwide and have been published in twenty-eight languages. Until recently, Jacques hosted a radio show called "Jakestown" on BBC Radio Merseyside. In June 2005, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Liverpool.
Bibliography
Redwall series
- Redwall (1986)
- Mossflower (1988)
- Mattimeo (1989)
- Mariel of Redwall (1991)
- Salamandastron (1992)
- Martin the Warrior (1993)
- The Bellmaker (1994)
- Outcast of Redwall (1995)
- The Pearls of Lutra (1996)
- The Long Patrol (1997)
- Marlfox (1998)
- The Legend of Luke (1999)
- Lord Brocktree (2000)
- The Taggerung (2001)
- Triss (2002)
- Loamhedge (2003)
- Rakkety Tam (2004)
- High Rhulain (2005)
- Eulalia (2007)
- Doomwyte (2008)
Redwall picture books
Tribes of Redwall series
Miscellaneous Redwall books
Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series
Books not in a series
- Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales (1991)
- Urso Brunov, Little Father of All Bears (2003)
- The Ribbajack & Other Curious Yarns (2004)
Stage plays
- Brown Bitter, Wet Nellies and Scouse
References
External links
- Official Redwall Website
- The Redwall Wiki - A collaborative Redwall information resource
- Sullivanet - Unofficial Redwall Encyclopedia, slightly outdated by 3 years
- Brian Jacques at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
