Robert E. Swindells (born 20 March 1939) is an English author of

children's A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

and

young adult fiction Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults. The subject matter and genres of YA correlate ...

. For the young-adult novel '' Stone Cold'' (Heinemann, 1993), which dealt with homelessness, he won the annual Carnegie Medal from the

Library Association The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, since 2017 branded CILIP: The library and information association (pronounced ), is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge management, knowle ...

, recognizing the year's outstanding children's book by a

British subject The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...

Biography

Born in

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, England, Swindells worked for a newspaper after leaving school aged 15. He served with the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

and held various jobs before training as a

Primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

teacher. While in training he wrote his first novel, ''When Darkness Comes'', which was published by

Brockhampton Press Brockhampton Press was a British publishing company, based in Leicester. Children's books Originally specialising in children's books, from about 1940, Brockhampton Press published the Asterix comic book series, many of Enid Blyton's story colle ...

Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; gd, Featha Thaigh nan Clach) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in ...

in 1973."When darkness comes"
Library of Congress Online Catalog. Retrieved 13 July 2012. He combined writing with teaching until 1980 when he took up writing full-time. He was still writing as of his 71st birthday (20 March 2010). He first won the

Red House Children's Book Award The Federation of Children's Book Groups Children's Book Award is a set of annual literary prizes for children's books published in the U.K. during the preceding calendar year. It recognises one "Overall" winner and one book in each of three cat ...

with ''

Brother in the Land ''Brother in the Land'' is a 1984 post-apocalyptic novel by the British author Robert E. "Bob" Swindells. The plot follows the adventures of a teenage boy as he struggles to survive in the north of England after a nuclear war has devastated the ...

'' (1984), a novel set in a

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astro ...

world. Swindells was a supporter of the

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nucle ...

and is quoted as saying that the work "... came out of my own anger and frustration ... you can't kill selectively with nuclear weapons, you wipe out millions of people ...". He won three more Red House awards for ''Room '' (13), ''Nightmare Stairs'' (Short novel, 1998) and ''Blitzed'' (Younger readers, 2003). In a 2010

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

and in the 2011

local elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

, Swindells stood as the

Green Party of England and Wales The Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW; cy, Plaid Werdd Cymru a Lloegr, kw, Party Gwer Pow an Sowson ha Kembra, often simply the Green Party or Greens) is a green, left-wing political party in England and Wales. Since October 2021, Carla ...

candidate for the

Worth Valley Worth Valley is a ward in the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, West Yorkshire. The population of the ward taken at the 2011 Census was 14,387. It is named after the River Worth that runs through the valley to the town of Keighley ...

ward of

Bradford City Council City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council is the local authority of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in West Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, ...

. In 2010, he took 11% of the vote, putting him in third place.

Selected works

Awards

Swindells has won several annual book awards. * 1985

, ''

''"Past Winners"
Red House Book Award. Retrieved 24 November 2012. * 1990 Red House Award, '' Room 13'' * 1993 Carnegie Medal, '' Stone Cold'' * 1998 Red House Award for Short Novel, ''Nightmare Stairs'' * 1998

Angus Book Award The Angus Book Award is a literary award for UK authors of teenage fiction. It is awarded by Angus Council in Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great B ...

, ''Unbeliever''"Angus Book Award: Previous Shortlists and Winners"
. Angus Council. Retrieved 24 November 2012. * 2003 Red House Award for Younger Readers, ''Blitzed'' ;Runners up, etc. * 1984 Carnegie Medal high commendation, ''Brother in the Land'' * 2001

Hampshire Book Award The Hampshire Book Awards are an annual series of literary awards given to works of children's literature. The awards are run by Hampshire County Council's School Library Service. There are three awards: Hampshire Book Award, Hampshire Illustrat ...

shortlist, ''Ruby Tanya''Hampshire Book Award

Notes

References

External links

*
Robert Swindells at Fantastic Fiction
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swindells, Robert British children's writers Carnegie Medal in Literature winners 1939 births Living people Writers from Bradford