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 the Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series. He has also written two collections of short stories, The Ribbajack and Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales. As a youth, he attended St. John's School, an inner city Catholic school that had its playground on the roof. While enrolled at St. John's, he had an experience at the age of ten that marked his potential as a writer. When given an assignment of writing a story about animals, he wrote about a 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. While at St. John's, Jacques was an altarboy.

Jacques' ancestry is French on the paternal side, and Irish on the maternal side; Jacques grandmother came to Liverpool from Cork Country Ireland in 1895.



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 would bring about a major change in his life over 30 years later. Durband co-founded Liverpool's Everyman Theatre with Terry Hands in 1964.

As a boy, authors such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert Louis Stephenson served as writers Jacques enjoyed, as well as books such as The Iliad, The Odyssey, King Solomon's Mines, and Treasure Island.

After Brian dropped out of school at age fifteen, he set out to find adventure as a Merchant Marine. He traveled to many ports, including New York, Valparaiso, San Francisco, and Yokohama. Tiring of the lonely life of a sailor, he returned to his home town of 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 resident playwright at Everyman Theatre. His stage play Brown Bitter, Wet Nellies, and Scouse has been performed there, where he was an actor for a brief stint of time.



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. The group was composed of Jacques, as well as some friends and family members. Jacques also provided backing for Liverpool trio The Scaffold, and has a lifetime membership to well-known Beatles stomping grounds, the Cavern Club.

Prior to Redwall, Jacques published various books of humorous poetry and short stories under the names "J. B. Jaques" and "J. Brian Jaques". These books were published almost exclusively by Raven Books in Liverpool, but also the Anvil Press. The first one, entitled Get Yer Wack: A Liverpool Anthology, was released in 1971. Over the coming years Jacques published 4 more of these books, Yennoworrameanlike, A Mersey Bible, Scouse with the Lid Off, and finally Jakestown in 1979.

Redwall was originally written for the children attending the Royal School for the Blind in Wavertree, Liverpool when he was a truck driver in the mid-1980s. Later, Alan Durband sent the book to publishers without telling Brian, which led to a contract for the first 5 books of Redwall. As of 2007, there are 18 published Redwall novels. In 2007, the 20th Anniversary of Redwall, the 19th novel Eulalia! is scheduled for release. 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.

For a while, Jacques wrote a column for the Catholic Pictorial in Liverpool.

The 21st Century


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

Three years later, on March 15, 2004, Mr. Jacques suffered a mild heart attack but again recovered.

In the fall of 2005, Mr. Jacques was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Liverpool.

From ~ 1970 - 2006, Mr. Jacques hosted "Jakestown", a comedy/opera/international music show on 95.8 FM BBC Radio Merseyside from 5:30pm-7pm on Sunday afternoons. In October of 2006 he retired from the air waves.

In the spring of 2007, Mr. Jacques was honored as one of the top 10 Greatest Merseysiders in Liverpool, and was celebrated with a portrait painted by artist Micheline Robinson.

Brian lives with his wife and business partner Liz Crampton Jacques, and has 2 adult sons, Marc and David. He also has a granddaughter, Jade, whom Mariel of Redwall was written for.



Awards

 * ALA's Best Books for Young Adults for 1987 for Redwall
 * Lancashire Libraries Children’s Book of the Year Award for Redwall
 * Lancashire Libraries Children’s Book of the Year Award for Mossflower
 * Lancashire Libraries Children’s Book of the Year Award for Salamandstron
 * Western Australian Young Readers Award for Redwall
 * Western Australian Young Readers Award for Mossflower
 * Western Australian Young Readers Award for Mattimeo
 * Shortlisted Carnegie Medal for Redwall
 * Shortlisted Carnegie Medal for Mossflower
 * Shortlisted Carnegie Medal for Salamandstron
 * Shortlisted Carnegie Medal for Mattimeo
 * Sony Award for Best Light Entertainment Show, BBC
 * 44th Greatest Merseysider Ever (2003)

Quotes



 * "It really gets up my nose when publicists call my books 'Another Lord of the Rings.' I say, 'It's not another Lord of the Rings, it's my bloody book! It's my creation. I wrote it. And another thing, I didn't have to plunder Norse and European mythology to do it!'" Locus (November 1995)


 * "I suppose there's a child inside me who wants to get out...A little baldy child with a beard. Ha!” CNN (March 16, 2001)


 * “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.” CNN (March 16, 2001)


 * “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.” CNN (March 16, 2001)


 * “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.”


 * "The point of 'Redwall' is to be a warrior. A warrior isn't Arnold Schwarzenegger, or some idiot with black belts who can kill you with a belch from 40 yards off." The Gazette (Colorado Springs, CO) (Sept 21, 2006)

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)
 * Eulalia! (2007)

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) (as J B Jaques)
 * Yennoworrameanlike (1972) (as J. B. Jacques)
 * According to Jacques: A Mersey Bible (1975) (as J B Jacques)
 * Scouse with the Lid Off (1977)
 * Jakestown: My Liverpool (1979)
 * Brian Jacques Meets Paddy Kelly: Stories from the BBC Radio Merseyside Series (1981)
 * Brown Bitter, Wet Nellies, and Scouse (Produced 1981)
 * Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales (1991)
 * Spooky Stories (Red Fox Story Collection) (1999) (with Colin Dann & Ritchie Perry, includes excerpts from Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales)
 * Ribbiting Tales: Original Stories About Frogs (2000) (contributed It Came from Outer Little Pond)
 * Dave's Quick 'n' Easy Web Pages : An Introductory Guide to Creating Web Sites (2001) (with Dave and Bruce Lindsay; contributed forward)
 * The Tale of Urso Brunov: Little Father of All Bears (2003)
 * The Ribbajack & Other Curious Yarns (2004)
 * The Redwall Cookbook (2005)
 * Redwall: The Graphic Novel (2007)

Delayed/Shelved Projects

 * A Divvil of a Lad
 * Tribes of Redwall Hares
 * Tribes of Redwall Squirrels

Filmography

 * Homes Not Roads - Narrator (1978)
 * Redwall TV Series (1999)

Discography



 * The Mushroom Folk Sampler LP - with The Liverpool Fishermen (1971)
 * Swallow the Anchor - with The Liverpool Fishermen (1971)
 * A Gig wid Brig (1974)
 * The Jakestown Liverpool Tape (1987)
 * Redwall Audio Books