James Arnold Watson (8 November 1936 – 28 April 2015) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

writer. The best known of his twelve

children's novel Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

s is ''Talking in Whispers''—winner of The Other Award from the Children's Rights Workshop, runner-up for the 1984 Carnegie Medal,"Awards: July 1984"
, ''Books for Keeps'' 27 (July 1984). and, in its German translation, winner of the 1987

Buxtehude Bull The Buxtehude Bull (German: Buxtehuder Bulle) is an award for youth literature, established in 1971 by Winfried Ziemann, a local book merchant from Buxtehude, a Hanseatic City located in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. The town council took over ...

award. Two others are ''Ticket to Prague'' and ''The Bull Leapers''. He was a lecturer in

media and communication studies Communication studies (or communication science) is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in differ ...

and he has written three books in the field.

Biography

Watson was born in

Darwen Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners". The A666 road, A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England. His book ''The Noisy Ducks of Buxtehude'' is a dual-language text (English/German)aimed at very young readers. A 1989 profile in the U.K. children's books magazine ''Books for Keeps'' noted that a theme of Watson's work was "a universal fight for human rights", and that three of his novels, "adventure thrillers set amid the Spanish Civil War (''The Freedom Tree''), the Chile of the ‘disappeared’ (''Talking in Whispers''), and a contemporary Britain where the Establishment closes ranks over nuclear secrecy (''Where Nobody Sees'')" had been praised "for their exciting action, their passion and their challenge to debate." The Carnegie Medal panel described ''Talking in Whispers'' as covering "the difficult theme of oppression in Chile, as seen through the eyes of three teenagers, with great honesty and sincerity." He wrote two plays for senior schools and four plays for radio. He published the novel ''Fair Game – Steps of the Odessa'' in 2008 and "Pigs Might Fly", an original e-reader (Kindle), in 2013. He died on 28 April 2015.

Works

Fiction

*''Sign of the Swallow'' *''The Bull Leapers'' *''Legion of The White Tiger'' *''The Freedom Tree'' *''Talking in Whispers'' *''Where Nobody Sees'' *''No Surrender'' *''Ticket to Prague'' *''Justice of the Dagger'' *''The Ghosts of Izieu'' *''"Make Your Move" and Other Stories '' *''Fair Game – Steps of the Odessa'' *" Pigs Might Fly"

Dramas

*''Banned! Tom Paine, This Was Your Life'' *''Gotcha!*''Wars-R-Us.com'' *''Robin Hood: the Play, or How Prince John Pitted His Wits Against the Outlaws of Sherwood Forest'' *''The Noisy Ducks of Buxtehude'' *''Fair Game – Steps of the Odessa'' *" Pigs Might Fly"

Educational

*"What is Communication Studies?" *"The Dictionary of Media & Communication Studies" (with Anne Hill) *"Media Communication: An Introduction to Theory & Process"

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, James 1936 births 2015 deaths English children's writers People from Darwen