Robert Westall facts for kids

Robert Atkinson Westall (7 October 1929 – 15 April 1993) was an English author and teacher best known for fiction aimed at children and young adults. In the latter case, some deal with complex, dark and adult themes. He has been called "the dean of British war novelists". His first book, The Machine Gunners, won the 1975 Carnegie Medal for the year's outstanding children's book by a British subject. It was named one of the top ten Medal-winning works for the 70th anniversary celebration in 2007. Westall also won a second Carnegie (no one has won three), a Smarties Prize, and the once-in-a-lifetime Guardian Prize.

Early life and career

Robert Westall was born 7 October 1929 in North Shields, Northumberland. He grew up there on Tyneside during the Second World War. Wartime Tyneside is the setting for many of his novels, for which his own life was a great source and inspiration. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Fine Art at Durham University and a post-graduate degree studying Sculpture at the Slade School of Art in London in 1957. From 1953 until 1955, Westall served in the British Army as a Lance Corporal in the Royal Corps of Signals. He subsequently became a teacher, including holding the positions of Head of Art and Head of Careers at Sir John Deane's Grammar School in Northwich, Cheshire. Westall served as a branch director of Samaritans between 1966 and 1975 and also contributed as a journalist to publications such as Cheshire Life and The Cheshire Chronicle and to The Guardian as an art critic.

Writing

Westall was inspired to become a writer by telling his son Christopher stories about his experiences during the Second World War. His first book, The Machine Gunners, published by Macmillan in 1975, told a Second World War story about English children who find "a crashed German bomber in the woods complete with machine gun". It was adapted as a BBC television serial in 1983.

Machine Gunners was set in Garmouth, a fictionalised Tynemouth, where he returned in other novels,

Westall won a second Carnegie Medal for The Scarecrows (Chatto & Windus, 1981). No one has won three, yet he was not a full-time writer. He retired from teaching only in 1985, and tried dealing antiques before focusing exclusively on his writing. For Blitzcat (Bodley Head, 1989) he won the annual Smarties Prize in category 9–11 years. In 1994 the American Library Association named it one of the hundred Best Books for Young Adults of the Last 25 years. He finally won the once-in-a-lifetime Guardian Children's Fiction Prize for The Kingdom by the Sea (Methuen, 1990). Both that work and Gulf (1992) were highly commended runners-up for the Carnegie Medal. The latter is a story about the home front during the Persian Gulf War.

From 1988 until his death Westall attended a writers' circle in Lymm where he helped to assist and mentor new writers.

Death, memorial and legacy

Westall died on 15 April 1993 in Warrington Hospital of respiratory failure as a result of pneumonia. At the time of his death, he lived in lodgings with his landlady, Lindy McKinnel, at 1 Woodland Avenue in the village of Lymm. He had his own cottage a few paces away, which he visited every day to do his writing. Previously he had lived at 20 Winnington Lane, Northwich and run Magpie Antiques, Church Street, Davenham.

As a journalist, Westall wrote for Cheshire Life, the Northwich Chronicle and the Warrington Guardian. A memorial service was held on 29 September 1993, at nearby All Saints' Church, Thelwall, Warrington. Tributes were paid by former teaching colleagues and Miriam Hodgson, editorial director (fiction) Reed Children's Books. A blue plaque was placed on Westall's birthplace, 7 Vicarage Street, North Shields, the following year. There is also a Westall Walk, which takes in locations used by the children's writer in his stories.

In October 2006, A Trip to Tynemouth by the Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki was published in Japan. It is based on "Blackham's Wimpy", a story first published in Westall's collection Break of Dark. The rival RAF crews in the story fly Vickers Wellington bombers. The nickname "Wimpy" comes from Wimpy in the Popeye cartoons.

Adaptations

Radio

• Hitch-Hiker,(First story in Break of Dark), BBC Radio 5 (1990)
• The Machine Gunners, BBC Radio 4 (2002)
• The Stones of Muncaster Cathedral, BBC Radio 4 (1996)
• The Wheatstone Pond, BBC Radio 4 (2002)
• Yaxley's Cat, BBC Radio 4

Television

• The Machine Gunners, BBC (1983)
• The Watch House, BBC (1988)

Awards and honours

American Library Association 100 Best Books for Young Adults of the Last 25 years

• 1994: Blitzcat

American Library Association Best Fiction for Young Adults

• 1997: Gulf

Boston Globe–Horn Book Award runners-up

• 1977 Honor Book: The Machine Gunners
• 1982 Honor Book: The Scarecrows

Carnegie Medal

• 1975: The Machine Gunners
• 1981: The Scarecrows
• 1990 highly commended runner-up: The Kingdom by the Sea
• 1992 highly commended runner-up: Gulf
• 1978 commended runner-up: Devil on the Road

Dracula Society Children of the Night Award

• 1991: The Stones of Muncaster Cathedral

Guardian Children's Fiction Prize

• 1991: The Kingdom by the Sea

Nestlé Smarties Book Prize, ages category 9–11 years

• 1989: Blitzcat

Sheffield Children's Book Award

• 1991: The Promise

Papers

Robert Westall's papers, deposited between 2003 and 2010, are at Seven Stories, National Centre for Children's Books.