Brian Jacques (pronounced Jakes) was born on June 15th, 1939 in Liverpool, England, where he lives to this day. (Did you know he was so good at writing, he wrote a story when he was ten and the teacher refused to believe he wrote it?) He went to St. John's private school until he was 15. He then went on as a merchant sailor. Eventually he also became truck driver, policeman, and boxer, to name a few.
Redwall, the first novel, was written for the children at the Royal Wavertree School for the Blind. He made sure there were plenty of descriptive scenes so the blind children could picture it. Brian published his book when Alan Durband, a friend, submitted the story to his own publisher. Later, Jacques met up with the publishers and signed a contract to write the next five books. Redwall was published in 1986.
Have you ever wondered who the Redwall characters were based on? Gonff was actually Jacques when he was younger (no surprise there). Mariel came from his granddaughter. And Constance the badgermum was based on his grandmother. The other characters came from a mix of people he met on his travels.
Currently, the Redwall novels have sold more than 20 million copies in more than 28 languages. There are 19 novels so far, with a lot more, it seems, to come. It has since been televised as a TV show, made into audiobooks, had a club of its own, and an opera. Brian Jacques also wrote several short books, like The Ribbajack and Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales, as well as another book series called Castaways of the Flying Dutchman.
