Brian Jacques - About the Author
Author Brian Jacques (pronounced "jakes") was born in Liverpool, England on June 15th, 1939. You may wonder how Jacques comes up with so many great ideas for his adventures. For inspiration, he takes his dog out for a walk in his childhood neighborhood. There, amid the "red walls" of Stanley Park, amongst the green trees, the ideas come to him. Mainly, his stories are based on adventures that he or his friends and family have actually lived. Many of his relatives went to sea, or worked on the docks, as he did. And many have had tales to tell.
Jacques has been greatly influenced by the effects of World War II. During the Battle of Britain, bombs fell daily around the dock area where he grew up. And who was it that saved the day then? Why those reckless, yet fearless young chaps of the RAF, upon whom the hares of the Redwall series are patterned. The shrews are Liverpool's dockworkers, who toiled on in great danger, to keep the port open. And, as for the moles, with their fascinating speech, they are the people of Somerset, just across the Bristol Channel from Cardiff.
During the war, there was always a shortage of food, especially the more exotic varieties (like bananas, which young Brian craved until he actually had one after the war's end). So great feasts play an integral part of his yarns. Food, even truly exotic foods, like dandelion salad and sweetmeadow custard, are described in mouthwatering detail.
The themes of Jacques adventures are unchanging: courage and decency win respect. When someone comes to take your homeland and hurt your loved ones, you have no choice but to stand and fight! These themes are firmly rooted in the memories of his childhood, of enemy bombers that darkened the sky, of ships that never returned, and of soldiers who died to keep him free.
Every character in his stories is based on a real person he has encountered. Jacques himself is Gonff, Prince of Mousethieves. Or at least he was, when he was a tough little kid hanging around the docks of the seaport of Liverpool. Constance is his grandmother and Mariel is his granddaughter. Many characters are even drawn from his many fans from around the world. And as for the villains, Jacques has encountered a few of those in his travels, too. The sea rats are some of the more unscrupulous seamen he sailed with in the merchant marine.
When asked why he chooses to draw upon mice for all his principal characters Jacques answers, "Mice are my heroes because, like children, mice are little and have to learn to be courageous and use their wits."
Brian Jacques still lives in Liverpool. His favorite place to write is in a corner of his garden in a little hut he built for his granddaughter up near the angle of a wall beside a lilac bush and near a dwarf apple tree.
-- Courtesy of Philomel Books
Visit the official Brian Jacques website at www.redwall.org.
