Brian Jacques

Brian Jacques (1939–2011) was a British author and broadcaster best known for creating the bestselling Redwall series of children’s fantasy novels, beginning with Redwall in 1986. Born James Brian Jacques in Liverpool, England, on June 15, 1939, he left school at 15 and worked in a variety of jobs—including docker/longshoreman, truck driver, sailor/merchant seaman, policeman, and comedian—before turning to writing. He wrote Redwall originally for the children at a school for the blind in Liverpool, and the book’s success launched a long-running series set in and around Redwall Abbey, which has sold millions of copies worldwide and was adapted into a television series.

In addition to the Redwall novels, Jacques wrote the Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series and other works such as Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales and The Ribbajack & Other Curious Yarns. His books, known for rich descriptive prose and anthropomorphized animal characters, have won international acclaim and reached readers in more than 20 countries. Jacques died of a heart attack in Liverpool on February 5, 2011, at the age of 71.