John Rowe Townsend (19 May 1922 – 24 March 2014) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

children's writer and

children's literature 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 ...

scholar. His best-known children's novel is ''The Intruder'', which won a 1971

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards hon ...

. His best-known academic work is a reference series, ''Written for Children: An Outline of English Children's Literature'' (1965), the definitive work of its time on the subject. It was greatly expanded for the first revised edition as ''Written for Children: An Outline of English-language Children's Literature'' (1974) and updated for its 2nd to 4th revised editions in 1983, 1987, and 1990 – the last, "A survey of imaginative writing, including poetry and picture books, accompanied by a bibliography of works on children's literature and illustrations from many of the classics of children's literature through 1989." ().

Biography

Townsend was born in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

and educated at

Leeds Grammar School Leeds Grammar School was an independent school founded 1552 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Originally a male-only school, in August 2005 it merged with Leeds Girls' High School to form The Grammar School at Leeds. The two schools physica ...

and

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mo ...

. His popular works include ''Gumble's Yard'', his

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

published in 1961; ''Widdershins Crescent'' (1965); and '' The Intruder'' (1969), which won the 1971

for Best Juvenile Mystery from the

Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is a professional organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the E ...

. In Britain, ''The Intruder'' was adapted as a children's TV series starring Milton Johns as the stranger. He was for some time editor of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

s weekly international edition, and also served as the paper's children's books editor. Also in Britain, ''Noah's Castle'' was filmed by

Southern Television Southern Television was the ITV broadcasting licence holder for the South and South-East of England from 30 August 1958 to 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited. However, in 1966, during the application pr ...

, narrated by character Barry Mortimer ( Simon Gipps-Kent), and transmitted in seven 25-minute episodes in 1980. He had had a relationship with

Jill Paton Walsh Gillian Honorine Mary Herbert, Baroness Hemingford, (née Bliss; 29 April 1937 – 18 October 2020), known professionally as Jill Paton Walsh, was an English novelist and children's writer. She may be known best for her Booker Prize-nominated ...

from the early 1970s, but they were only married after the death of her first husband in 2004.

Books

* ''Gumble's Yard'' (1961) * ''Hell's Edge'' (1963) * ''Widdershins Crescent'' (1965) * ''Written for Children: An Outline of English Children's Literature'' (1965) * ''The Hallersage Sound'' (1966) * ''Pirate's Island'' (1968) * '' The Intruder'' (1969) * ''Trouble in the Jungle'' (1969) * ''Goodbye to Gumble's Yard'' (1970) * ''A Sense of Story'' (1971); reissued as ''A Sounding of Storytellers'' (1979) * ''The Summer People'' (1972) * ''Wish for Wings'' (1972) * ''Good-night, Prof, Love'' (1973) * ''Written for Children: An Outline of English-language Children's Literature'' (1974) – first revised edition of the 1965 ''Outline'' * ''Forest of the Night'' (1974) * ''Noah's Castle'' (1975) * ''Top of the World'' (1976) * ''The Xanadu Manuscript'' (1977) (US title: ''The Visitors'') * ''Runaways'' (1979) * ''A Sounding of Storytellers'' (1979) * ''King Creature, Come'' (1980) (US title: ''The Creatures'') * ''The Fortunate Isles'' (1981); reissued as ''The Golden Journey'' (1989) * ''The Islanders'' (1981) * ''A Foreign Affair'' (1982) (US title: ''Kate and the Revolution'') * ''Clever Dick: The Diary of a Dreadful Child'' (1982) * ''Dan Alone'' (1983) * ''Cloudy-Bright'' (1984); reissued as ''Sam and Jenny'' (1992) * ''Fame and Fortune'' (1984) * ''Gone to the Dogs'' (1984) * ''Tom Tiddler's Ground'' (1985); reissued as ''The Hidden Treasure'' (1988) * ''The Persuading Stick'' (1986) * ''Downstream'' (1987) * ''Rob's Place'' (1987) * ''Cranford Revisited'' (1989) * ''Cheer and Groan'' (1989) * ''The Invaders'' (1992) – sequel to ''The Islanders''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Townsend, John Rowe 1922 births 2014 deaths Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge British children's writers Children's literature criticism Edgar Award winners People educated at Leeds Grammar School Writers from Leeds The Guardian journalists Place of death missing