Brian Jacques

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(James) Brian Jacques (pronouced "Jakes") (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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[edit] Biography

Brian Jacques was born in Liverpool, England,on June 15 ,1939. He grew 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 could not believe that anyone could write that well when they were only 10 years old. He was called a liar for refusing to say he copied the story. 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. His book Redwall was written for the children of the Royal Wavertree 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.

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Redwall series

[edit] Redwall picture books

[edit] Tribes of Redwall series

[edit] Miscellaneous Redwall books

[edit] Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series

A fourth Castaways novel has been announced for a possible 2008 release.

[edit] Books not in a series

[edit] Plays

  • Brown Bitter, Wet Nellies and Scouse

[edit] References

Brian Jaques Biography [1]

[edit] External links