Brian Jacques

James Brian Jacques (pronounced "jakes")

Born: June 15, 1939, Liverpool, England

Biography
An English author, Jacques is best known for his Redwall series of fantasy books and Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series. He also wrote two collections of short stories, The Ribbajack and Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales. He attended St. John's School, an inner city school that had its playground on the roof. On his first day at St. John's, at the age of ten, he had an experience that marked his potential as a writer. When given an assignment of writing a story about animals, he wrote about the bird that cleaned a crocodile's teeth. The teacher could not, and would not believe that a ten year old could write that well. When young Brian refused to falsely say that he had copied the story, he was caned as "a liar". He had always loved to write, but it was only then, that he realized that he had a talent for writing.



It was also at St. John's that Brian met his English teacher, Alan Durband (who also taught two Beatles, Paul McCartney and George Harrison), who, more than thirty years later would bring about a major change in his life.

After Brian finished school at fifteen, he set out to find adventure as a merchant seaman. He travelled to many far away ports, including New York, Valparaiso, San Francisco, and Yokohama. Tiring of the lonely life of a sailor, he returned to Liverpool where he worked as a railway fireman, a longshoreman, a long-distance truck driver, a bus driver, a boxer, a bobby (Police Constable 216D), a postmaster, and a stand-up comic.

Jacques began his writing career as a playwright. His three stage plays Brown Bitter, Wet Nellies, and Scouse have been performed at the Everyman Theatre.



During the 1960s, Jacques was involved with a local Liverpool folk singing group. Calling themselves "The Liverpool Fishermen", this act made rounds at local pubs and clubs, and released an LP called Swallow the Anchor in 1971.

Prior to Redwall, Jacques had a book of humorous poetry published under the names "J. B. Jaques" and "J. Brian Jaques" entitled Get Yer Wack: A Liverpool Anthology, also in 1971, by AnvilPress. In 1979, Jacques followed this book up with Jakestown: My Liverpool, another book of humorous stories, poems, and the like.

Redwall was originally written for the children of the Royal School for the Blind in Wavertree, Liverpool when he was a truck driver in 1986. Later, Alan Durband showed the book to publishers without telling Brian, which led to a contract for the first 5 books of Redwall. There are now 18. For his first book, which was written on 800 sheets of recycled paper kept in a grocery bag, Jacques only received around $4000.

Jacques works on Redwall books with Patricia Lee Gauch, Vice President and editor at Philomel Books, who first came to the company in 1985. She is a close friend of his.

In addition to writing books, Jacques currently hosts Jakestown, on 95.8 FM BBC Radio Merseyside. It airs at 5.30pm-7pm on Sunday afternoons.

On August 19, 2001, Jacques had a stroke, but recovered.

On March 15, 2004, Jacques suffered a mild heart attack but recovered.

Brian lives with his wife and business partner Liz Crampton, and has 2 adult sons, named Marc and David. He also has a granddaughter, Jade.



Quotes



 * "I suppose there's a child inside me who wants to get out...A little baldy child with a beard. Ha!”


 * “Any time I go into anything like this, I make sure, before I ever put pen to paper, that I've got the say...If you don't, it's like putting your kid in an orphanage.”


 * “I still pinch meself when I wake up of a morning...Who ever thought I'd be a children's author -- let alone a best-selling children's author? I feel I should still be driving a truck, or (working as) a longshoreman.”


 * “I use animals native to Great Britain...The animals have human traits, like the mole is a tiny, furry wonderful creature with big digging claws. I think about how he would talk. He's not a baddie; he's a goodie.”

Tours
See the Tour page for known upcoming BJ tours, as well as previous tours.

Contact Information


If you are a fan interested in writing Brian Jacques, address a letter to the following address:

Mr. Brian Jacques

c/o REDWALL READERS CLUB

PO BOX 57

MOSSLEY HILL

L18 3NZ

U.K.

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)
 * Pearls of Lutra (1996)
 * The Great Redwall Feast (1996)
 * The Long Patrol (1997)
 * Marlfox (1998)
 * The Legend of Luke (1999)
 * Lord Brocktree (2000)
 * The Taggerung (2001)
 * A Redwall Winter's Tale (2001)
 * Triss (2002)
 * Loamhedge (2003)
 * Rakkety Tam (2004)
 * High Rhulain (2005)

Tribes of Redwall Series

 * Tribes of Redwall Badgers (2002)
 * Tribes of Redwall Otters (2002)
 * Tribes of Redwall Mice (2003)

Castaways of the Flying Dutchman Series

 * Castaways of the Flying Dutchman (2001)
 * The Angel's Command (2003)
 * Voyage of Slaves (2006)

Other

 * Get Yer Wack: A Liverpool Anthology (1971) (under J B Jaques)
 * Jakestown: My Liverpool (1979) (under J B Jacques)
 * Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales (1991)
 * Urso Brunov, Little Father of All Bears (2003)
 * The Ribbajack & Other Curious Yarns (2004)
 * The Redwall Cookbook (2005)

Discography



 * Swallow the Anchor - with The Liverpool Fishermen, UK Mushroom (1971)
 * Redwall Audio Books