Jan Needle

Jan Needle (Full name James Albert Needle, born 1943) is an English author. He was born and grew up in Portsmouth on the South coast of England, coming from a family with strong naval and military connections. He has written over thirty novels, as well as books and plays for adults and children, books of criticism, cartoons and radio and television serials and series.

After studying to becoming a journalist and despite poor grades in English, he moved to the North-West of England at age 20 to work for the Daily Herald newspaper. At 25 he took a Drama degree course at Manchester University, quitting full-time journalism after working for various papers. His first novel, Albeson and the Germans, was published in 1977.[1] His first work for television was the one-hour drama A Place of Execution.[2]

His best-selling novel is The Bully which has been translated into multiple languages and is a set text in schools in South America.[3] The Times Education Supplement said it "avoids the glib answers of formulaic fiction".[4] The TES also recommended it for classroom use to tackle the topic of bullying.[5]

His novel Death Order speculated that leading German Nazil Rudolf Hess was murdered.[6]

He has also written a sequel to The Wind in the Willows, called Wild Wood, which offered a critique of the politically conservative message of Kenneth Grahame's novel, by retelling the story from the perspective of the stoats and weasels who rebel against the established social order.[7][8]

He is also co-author with Peter Thomson of Brecht, a study of the playwright Bertolt Brecht.[9][10]

He currently lives in Uppermill, Saddleworth, near Oldham and West Didsbury, Manchester in the Northwest of England, and has five children.

Controversy

Some of his works have caused slight controversy in the past: Don't Tell The Frogs, a comedy focusing on the nuclear industry, was pulled after pressure; the Government attempted to block the running of the schools television serial A Game of Soldiers (broadcast as part of schools series Middle English in September and October 1983[11] ), due to its subject of the Falklands War;[12] Needle was banned from acting as the keynote speaker at a conference on realism in children's books by teachers due to his book My Mate Shofiq.

Bibliography

This literature-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

William Bentley

Television

Needle has written serials for television, such as Truckers, A Game of Soldiers, Behind the Bike Sheds and Soft Soap, and has also written episodes for various well-known series, including Duckula, Thomas the Tank Engine, Sooty and Sweep, Brookside and The Bill.[13]

Re-Edits

Recently, Needle has re-written classic novels, to make them more accessible for children. In 2004, his cut down version of Bram Stoker's Dracula was published, being praised by Publishers Weekly for its presentation with blood-red page borders and "haunting" illustrations.[14] It was followed in the next few years by a translated and adapted version of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and a re-working of Moby-Dick.[15]

References

  1. ↑ "Jan Needle". The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  2. ↑ Torr, Martyn (29 May 2012). "Through the Eyes of Needle". Oldham Chronicle. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  3. ↑ "Author pays a visit to Rochdale sisters". Rochdale Online. 17 April 2009. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  4. ↑ Slough, Brian (27 June 1997). "Tales to mix and match". Times Education Supplement. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  5. ↑ "Resources". TES Connect. 11 May 2008. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  6. ↑ "Manchester author scoops Scotland Yard". Lancashire Magazine. 8 September 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  7. ↑ O'Sullivan, Emer. Historical Dictionary of Children's Literature. p. 113.
  8. ↑ Grahame, Kenneth (2009). The Wind in the Willows: An Annotated Edition. Harvard UP. p. 1.
  9. ↑ Martin Kane. "Brecht by Jan Needle and Peter Thomson (review)." Modern Drama 25.4 (1982): 575-577. Project MUSE. Web. 4 July 2013.
  10. ↑ Heinemann, Margot (5 August 1982). "Modern Brecht". London Review of Books 4 (14): 22–24. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  11. ↑ Wake, Oliver (2 April 2012). "DISPUTED TERRITORY: DRAMA AND THE FALKLANDS". British Television Drama. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  12. ↑ http://www.janneedle.com/
  13. ↑ http://www.janneedle.com/radio.htm
  14. ↑ "Bram Stoker's Dracula (ed. Jan Needle; Review)". Publishers Weekly. 9 January 2004. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  15. ↑ http://www.janneedle.com/children.htm

External links