David Storr Unwin (3 December 1918 – 11 February 2010), known as David Severn, was a British writer. He was the son of publisher Sir Stanley Unwin, of whom Severn wrote a

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curri ...

in 1982, ''Fifty Years with Father''. He had ''

Who's Who A Who's Who (or Who Is Who) is a reference work consisting of biographical entries of notable people in a particular field. The oldest and best-known is the annual publication ''Who's Who (UK), Who's Who'', a reference work on contemporary promin ...

'' entries throughout his writing career. Severn attended

Abbotsholme School Abbotsholme School is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding school, boarding and day school. The school is situated on a 140-acre campus on the banks of the River Dove, Central England, River Dove in Derbyshir ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, 1933–36, and worked for the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

Secretariat,

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

(1938), Unwin Brothers (printers), 1939, Blackwells (1940) and

George Allen & Unwin George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It became one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and established an Australian ...

(1941–43), having been declared medically unfit for the

armed services A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

. His first series for children (1942–46) featured "Crusoe" Robinson, who was befriended by youngsters in holiday adventures, many featuring a Romany group. The Warner family series followed (1947–52), featuring

pheasant Pheasants ( ) are birds of several genera within the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. Although they can be found all over the world in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera's native range is restricted to Eura ...

s, ponies and country life. The

scraperboard Scratchboard or scraperboard or scratch art is a form of direct engraving where the artist scratches off dark ink to reveal a white or colored layer beneath. The technique uses sharp knives and tools for engraving into the scratchboard, which is us ...

illustrations of

Joan Kiddell-Monroe Joan Kiddell-Monroe (1908–1972) was a British writer and illustrator of children's books, particularly notable for her folk-tale illustrations. Biography Joan Kiddell-Monroe was born on August 9, 1908, in Clacton-on-Sea, England. She studied ...

greatly enhance these two series. A number of books experimented with the

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

and time-slip, and can be compared with many modern books revisiting

supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...

themes. ''Drumbeats!'' has a musical youngster beating a native drum which transports children to a lost expedition to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

twenty years earlier. ''Dream Gold'' shows the hypnotic power of one boy over another, with

dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation (psychology), sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around ...

s reliving the conflicts of their ancestors. These are his most interesting books, and the ones he wished to be remembered by.Doyle, 1978: 1114. ''The Future Took Us'' is a time-slip into 3,000 C.E. ''The Girl in the Grove'', his longest book, is a psychological

ghost story A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them."Ghost Stories" in Margaret Drabble (ed.), ''Oxford Companion to English Literature''. ...

. He also produced illustrated books for younger children. Only his last three books were published by Allen & Unwin.

Books for children as David Severn

(Published in London by

The Bodley Head The Bodley Head is an English book publishing imprint of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1887 by John Lane and Elkin Mathews, The Bodley Head existed as an independent entity or as part of multiple consortia until it was acquired by Random ...

unless indicated, selected titles in New York by Houghton Mifflin 1946–47 and thereafter Macmillan. Popular titles translated into various European languages.) *''Rick Afire'' (1942) *''A Cabin for Crusoe'' (1943) *''A Waggon for Five'' (1944) *''Hermit in the Hills'' (1945) *''Forest Holiday'' (1946) *''Ponies and Poachers'' (1947) *''Wily Fox and the Baby Show'' (1947) *''Bill Badger and the Pine Martens'' (1947) *''The Cruise of the Maiden Castle'' (1948) *''Treasure for Three'' (1949) *''Dream Gold'' (1949) *''Wily Fox and the Christmas Party'' (1949) *''Bill Badger and the Bathing Pool'' (1949) *''Wily Fox and the Missing Fireworks'' (1950) *''Bill Badger and the Buried Treasure'' (1950) *''Crazy Castle'' (1951) *''My Foreign Correspondent through Africa'' (1951, Meiklejohn & Sons) *''Burglars and Bandicoots'' (1952) *''Drumbeats!'' (1953) *''Walnut Tree Meadow'' (1956) *''Blaze of Broadfurrow Farm'' (1956) *''The Future Took Us'' (1957) *''The Green-Eyed Gryffon'' (1958, Hamish Hamilton) *''Foxy Boy'' (1959) (''The Wild Valley'') (New York: Dutton) *''Three at the Sea'' (1959) *''Jeff Dickson: Cowhand'' (1963, Jonathan Cape) *''Clouds over Alberhorn'' (1963, Hamish Hamilton) *''A Dog for a Day'' (1965, Hamish Hamilton) *''The Girl in the Grove'' (1974, Allen & Unwin) *''The Wishing Bone'' (1977, Allen & Unwin)

Books for adults as David Unwin

*''The Governor’s Wife'' (Michael Joseph, 1954) *''A View of the Heath'' (Michael Joseph, 1956) *''Fifty Years with Father'' (Allen & Unwin, 1982)

Notes

Sources

*''Who's Who'' *Carpenter H. and Pritchard M., 1984, ''The Oxford Companion to Children’s Literature'', Oxford: Oxford University Press *Doyle, Brian 1978 in Kirkpatrick, D. L., ''Twentieth Century Children’s Writers'', London: Macmillan; 4th edition text by Linda Yeatman *"David Severn" in ''Cambridge Companion to Children's Literature''
Stephen Bigger, ''David Severn (David Storr Unwin), Children’s Writer''

External links

*
David Unwin
at LC Authorities, with 3 records, an
at WorldCat
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Severn, David British writers 1918 births 2010 deaths People educated at Abbotsholme School