Robert Westall

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Robert Westall (October 7, 1929 – April 15, 1993) is the author of many books, mostly fiction for children, though also for adults, and non-fiction. His children's fiction includes The Machine Gunners (1975), set during the Second World War, where a group of children living in Tyneside, England try to retrieve a machine gun from the turret of a felled German aircraft. It was his first novel for children, winning the Carnegie Medal; it was made into a BBC television serial in 1983. In its sequel, Fathom Five (1979), many of the same characters believe there to be a German spy in their home town of Garmouth. He won the Carnegie Medal again in 1982 for The Scarecrows, the Smarties prize in 1989 for Blitzcat and the Guardian Award in 1991 for The Kingdom by the Sea.

Westall's work can be roughly divided between the World War II tale, "school stories" and tales of the supernatural. Indeed, many think that his ghost stories are the finest since M.R. James, but Westall was especially adept at combining genres and merged all three themes effortlessly. His characters of any age are often blessed with strength of will and purpose that is the ultimate hallmark of his stories.

Robert Westall was born in North Shields, in 1929, and grew up there on Tyneside during the Second World War; wartime Tyneside is the setting for many of his novels, for which his own life was a great source and inspiration. After studying Fine Art at Durham University, then Sculpture at the Slade School of Art in London, he became an art teacher in Northern schools, also working as a journalist, dealing in antiques and serving as a branch director of Samaritans. In 1985, he retired in order to concentrate on his writing.

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