Robert Westall

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Robert Atkinson Westall (born October 7, 1929 in Tynemouth , Northumberland , † April 15, 1993 in Lymm , England ) was a British writer and author of young books.

Robert Westall grew up during the war in northern England, studied art and sculpture at Durham University until his graduation in 1953 , served two years in the British Army and received his doctorate from the Slade School of the University of London . He then worked as an art teacher in Norwich until 1985 , for a few years as an art dealer and journalist, before finally devoting himself exclusively to writing. He has published more than 30 books for young people and made a name for himself as a writer of ghost stories for adults. His books for young people testify to the deep impression that childhood left behind in the war, and repeatedly address war and violence and their consequences for the young protagonists. He also wrote SF and, in the broadest sense, Fantastic; Westall did not stick to the rigid genre boundaries and, for example, always use fantastic elements when it was appropriate for the plot to proceed; insofar he is not a fantasy writer. The journey through time in The Devil on the Road, for example, is not explained at all.

The novel The Machine Gunners was his first children's book to be awarded the Carnegie Medal (1975) and in 1983 formed the basis for a TV series of the same name on the BBC. Among his books there is also a dark dystopia in the science fiction novel Futuretrack Five (1983) . Westall's story "Blackham's Wimpy" from his short story collection Break of Dark formed the basis for the Japanese animated film A Trip to Tynemouth by Hayao Miyazaki (2006).

Works

  • "The Machine Gunners", 1975 (Eng. "The Enemy", 1987)
  • "The Devil on the Road", 1978 (Eng. "Playing with chance")
  • "Fathom Five" (1979) "
  • "The Scarecrows", 1982 (Eng. "The Scarecrows", 1984) Carnegie Medal
  • "Futuretrack Five", 1983 (Eng. "A life with Laura")
  • "Urn Burial", (1987)
  • "Blitzcat", 1989, Nestlé Smarties Book Prize 1989
  • "The Kingdom by the Sea", 1991 (Eng. "The hiding place under the cliffs"), Guardian Award 1991
  • "Yaxley's Cat", 1991 ( Eng . " Yaxley's Cat ")
  • "Gulf", 1992, Guardian Children's Fiction Award 1993

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Westall, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Westall, Robert Atkinson (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British writer
DATE OF BIRTH October 7, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Tynemouth , Northumberland
DATE OF DEATH April 15, 1993
Place of death Lymm , England