Jason Wallace (born 1969) is an author living in South West London. He is the author of ''

Out of Shadows ''Out of Shadows'' is a 2010 children's historical novel by Jason Wallace, published by Andersen Press on 28 January 2010. Set in 1980s Zimbabwe, the story follows white teenager Robert Jacklin at a prestigious boarding school as he confronts bu ...

'', the 2010 Costa Children's Book of the Year.

Early life and education

Jason Wallace was born in

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities and ...

.Jason Wallace Website
Retrieved 28 October 2011. He is a descendant of Lord George Sanger, a world-famous Victorian circus owner and an International English cricketer. Wallace is also loosely related (through a marriage in the family tree) to

J.R.R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...

. Jason lived in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England in his younger years with his family before attending

Peterhouse Boys' School , location = , province = Mashonaland East , country = Zimbabwe , coordinates = , type = Independent, boarding, high school , denomination = Anglican , patron = Saint Peter , founded = 1955 , founder = Fred Snell , sister_school = Pet ...

, a boarding school in 1983 in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

. The family emigrated after his mother remarried. At the age of seventeen, he aspired for a career as an author and was determined despite knowing how that it would be challenging. Wallace was a fan of comic books such as ''

The Adventures of Tintin ''The Adventures of Tintin'' (french: Les Aventures de Tintin ) is a series of 24 bande dessinée#Formats, ''bande dessinée'' albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one ...

'' and ''

Asterix ''Asterix'' or ''The Adventures of Asterix'' (french: Astérix or , "Asterix the Gaul") is a ''bande dessinée'' comic book series about a village of indomitable Gaulish warriors who adventure around the world and fight the Roman Republic, wi ...

'' and authors including Dr.Seuss and Richard Scarry. In his childhood, among some of his favorite books were '' James and the Giant Peach'' and ''

Danny the Champion of the World ''Danny, the Champion of the World'', or simply Danny, is a 1975 children's book by Roald Dahl. The plot centres on Danny, a young English boy, and his father, William. They live in a Gypsy caravan, fix cars for a living in their mechanic s ...

.'' In his adolescent and adult life, he was a fan of

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

and James Herbert. His experiences in a Zimbabwean

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

following the

Zimbabwe War of Liberation The Rhodesian Bush War, also called the Second as well as the Zimbabwe War of Liberation, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country of Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe-Rh ...

Rhodesian Bush War The Rhodesian Bush War, also called the Second as well as the Zimbabwe War of Liberation, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the unrecognised country of Rhodesia (later Zimbabwe-Rhodesia). The conflict pitted three for ...

laid the building blocks of his first, Costa Children's Book Award winning novel ''

''.

Career

Jason Wallace had a challenging journey to becoming a published author. He stated that "getting published didn't happen overnight, and writing had to become "the other job" for which I didn't get paid while life continued." Wallace says he has "always had a fertile imagination, but as far as I'm concerned, it's the school I need to thank for inadvertently nurturing my will to write through strong discipline".

''Out of Shadows''

'' was published on January 28, 2010 by Andersen Press. The novel has received extensive recognition (international rights currently sold to the USA, Norway, Turkey, Brazil and France) and has established him as a successful published author. ''Out of Shadows'' took one year and six months to complete. While he attended a boarding school in Zimbabwe shortly after the Rhodesian Bush War/

Zimbabwean War of Liberation Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

ended, Jason Wallace wanted to write a story of what he had seen or experienced. The political scene in Zimbabwe was declining and troubled. This inspired Wallace to begin writing fictional stories of what he was encountering. Though the characters in the novel are not real, they served to demonstrate the attitudes or personalities "a very few people" held. Wallace notes that he "came up with the idea of "What if...?" and took it from there" when he was writing Out of Shadows. Wallace focused on several themes in the novel Out of Shadows such as

bullying Bullying is the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing or threat, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception (by the bully or by others) of an imba ...

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

and

morality Morality () is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper (right) and those that are improper (wrong). Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of cond ...

. The book is written for both adults and a younger audience of 13+.

''Encounters''

Jason Wallace's second novel, ''Encounters'', was published on May 4, 2017 by Andersen Press. The novel is set in Zimbabwe, inspired by true events in the 1990s.

Personal life

Wallace currently resides in South West

, England.

Bibliography

* ''

'' (2010) * ''Encounters'' (2017)

Awards

*WINNER - Costa Children's Book of the Year 2010 - Costa Book Awards - "...a unanimous winner... A stunning debut novel without a false note. Accomplished and powerful, it changes the way you think." *WINNER - the Branford Boase Award 2011 - Branford Boase Awards *WINNER - the UKLA Children's Book Award 2011 - UKLA *Shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2011 - The CILIP Carnegie Children's Book Awards *Shortlisted for the Booktrust Teenage Prize 2010 - Booktrust

References

External links

Jason Wallace
at

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

Authorities — with 2 catalogue records {{DEFAULTSORT:Wallace, Jason 1969 births Living people Alumni of Peterhouse Boys' School English children's writers Web designers Writers from London British emigrants to Zimbabwe 21st-century British novelists Costa Book Award winners Writers from Cheltenham