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

children's A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''child ...

and

young adult fiction Young adult literature (YA) is typically written for readers aged 12 to 18 and includes most of the themes found in adult fiction, such as family dysfunction, substance abuse, alcoholism, and sexuality. It is characterized by simpler world build ...

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

, 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 status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

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

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

and held various jobs before training as a

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

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 collec ...

Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in the west, where the nearest rail access is located ...

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 Children's Book Award is a British literary award for children's books, run by the Federation of Children's Book Groups and previously known as the Red House Children's Book Award. Books published in the U.K. during the preceding calendar yea ...

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 c ...

'' (1984), a novel set in a

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres 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; astronom ...

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 Nucl ...

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'' (1989), ''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, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

and in the 2011

local elections Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

, Swindells stood as the

Green Party of England and Wales The Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW; ), often known simply as the Green Party or the Greens, is a Green politics, green, Left-wing politics, left-wing political party in England and Wales. Since October 2021, Carla Denyer and Adrian Ram ...

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 Keighl ...

ward of

Bradford City Council City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council is the local authority of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. Bradford has had an elected council since 1847, which has been reformed on several occasions. Since 1974 it has been a metr ...

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

Awards

Swindells has won several annual book awards. * 1985

, ''

''"Past Winners"
Red House Book Award. Retrieved 24 November 2012. * 1990

, '' Room 13'' * 1993 Carnegie Medal, '' Stone Cold'' * 1998

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 Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-th ...

, ''Unbeliever''"Angus Book Award: Previous Shortlists and Winners"
. Angus Council. Retrieved 24 November 2012. * 2003

Younger Readers, ''Blitzed'' ;Runners up, etc. * 1984 Carnegie Medal high commendation, ''Brother in the Land'' * 2001 Hampshire Book Award shortlist, ''Ruby Tanya''Hampshire Book Award
.

Selected works

Notes

References

External links