Jason Wallace (born 1969) is an author living in South West London. He is the author of '' Out of Shadows'', the 2010 Costa Children's Book of the Year.

Early life and education

Jason Wallace was born in

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England in the United Kingdom. Additionally, it is one of four regions that altogether make up Southern England. South West England con ...

.Jason Wallace Website
Retrieved 28 October 2011. He is a descendant of

Lord George Sanger 'Lord' George Sanger (23 December 1825 – 28 November 1911) was an English showman and circus proprietor. Born to a showman father, he grew up working in travelling peep shows. He successfully ran shows and circuses throughout much of the ni ...

, a world-famous Victorian circus owner and an International English cricketer. Wallace is also loosely related (through a marriage in his 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 Rawlinson ...

. In his younger years, Jason lived in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England with his family before attending

Peterhouse Boys' School Peterhouse Boys' School (or Peterhouse) is an independent, boarding high school for boys in Mashonaland East, Zimbabwe. The school was founded by Fred Snell in 1955 and is located on an estate that is shared with Calderwood Park, a conservati ...

, a boarding school in 1983 in

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

. 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'' ( ) is a series of 24 comic albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. By 2007, a c ...

'' and ''

Asterix ''Asterix'' ( or , "Asterix the Gauls, Gaul"; also known as ''Asterix and Obelix'' in some adaptations or ''The Adventures of Asterix'') is a Franco-Belgian comics, French comic album book series, series about a Gaulish village which, thanks ...

'' and authors including Dr.Seuss and

Richard Scarry Richard McClure Scarry (; June 5, 1919 – April 30, 1994) was an American children's author and illustrator who published over 300 books with total sales of over 100 million worldwide. He is best known for his ''Best Ever'' book series that tak ...

. In his childhood, among his favorite books were ''

James and the Giant Peach ''James and the Giant Peach'' is a children's novel written in 1961 by British author Roald Dahl. The first edition, published by Alfred Knopf, featured illustrations by Nancy Ekholm Burkert. There have been re-illustrated versions of it over ...

'' and '' Danny the Champion of the World.'' In his adolescent and adult life, he was a fan of

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

and

James Herbert James John Herbert, OBE (8 April 1943 – 20 March 2013) was an English horror writer. A full-time writer, he also designed his own book covers and publicity. His books have sold 54 million copies worldwide, and have been translated into 34 la ...

. 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. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

following the

Zimbabwe War of Liberation The Rhodesian Bush War, also known as the Rhodesian Civil War, Second as well as the Zimbabwe War of Independence, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country U.D.I. ...

Rhodesian Bush War The Rhodesian Bush War, also known as the Rhodesian Civil War, Second as well as the Zimbabwe War of Independence, was a civil conflict from July 1964 to December 1979 in the List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country U.D.I. ...

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

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''

'' Out of Shadows'' was published on January 28, 2010 by

Andersen Press Andersen Press is a British book publishing company. It was founded in 1976 by Klaus Flugge, and was named after Hans Christian Andersen "because it is easier to pronounce and spell than Flugge". Random House has a holding in the company and a ...

. 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 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, Suffering, hurtful teasing, comments, or threats, in order to abuse, aggression, aggressively wikt:domination, dominate, or intimidate one or more others. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. On ...

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 (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

and

morality Morality () is the categorization of intentions, Decision-making, decisions and Social actions, actions into those that are ''proper'', or ''right'', and those that are ''improper'', or ''wrong''. Morality can be a body of standards or principle ...

. 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

* '' Out of Shadows'' (2010) * ''Encounters'' (2017)

Awards

*Shortlisted for the

Booktrust Teenage Prize The Booktrust Teenage Prize was an annual award given to young adult literature published in the UK. The prize was administered by Book Trust, an independent charity which promotes books and reading. The Booktrust Teenage Prize was last awarded ...

2010 *WINNER of

Costa Book Awards The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in United Kingdom, UK and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first ...

Costa Book Award for Children's Book The Costa Book Award for Children's Book, formerly known as the Whitbread Award (1971–2005), was an annual literary award for children's books, part of the Costa Book Awards The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recogni ...

2010

"...a unanimous winner... A stunning debut novel without a false note. Accomplished and powerful, it changes the way you think."

*WINNER of the

Branford Boase Award The Branford Boase Award is a British literary award presented annually to an outstanding children's or young-adult novel by a first-time writer; "the most promising book for seven year-olds and upwards by a first time novelist." The award is s ...

2011 *Shortlisted for the

CILIP The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP, pronounced ) is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge management, knowledge managers in the United Kingdom. It was established in 20 ...

Carnegie Medal 2011 *WINNER of the UKLA Children's Book Award 2011 * *

References

External links

Jason Wallace
at

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

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