Robert Swindells

For the cricketer with a similar name, see Robert Swindell.

Robert E. "Bob" Swindells (born 20 March 1939) is an English author of children's and young adult literature.

Biography

Born in Bradford, Yorkshire, Swindells worked for a newspaper after leaving school aged 15. He served with the Royal Air Force and held various jobs before training as a primary school teacher. His first novel, When Darkness Comes (1973), was written while he was still in training. Swindells combined writing with teaching until 1980 when he took up writing full-time. He was still writing as of his 71st birthday (March 20, 2010).

He first won the Children's Book Award with Brother in the Land (1984), a novel set in a post-apocalyptic world. Swindells was a supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament 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 ...". Swindells also won the award for Room 13 (1990), Nightmare Stairs (Short novel, 1998) and Blitzed (Younger readers, 2003). His young adult novel Stone Cold (1993), which dealt with homelessness, won the Carnegie Medal in 1993.

In a 2010 by-election and in the 2011 local elections, Robert stood as the Green Party candidate for the Worth Valley ward of Bradford City Council. In 2010, he took 11% of the vote, putting him in third place.

Selected bibliography

• When Darkness Comes To Day (1973)
• A Candle in the Night (1974)
• Voyage to Valhalla (1976)
• The Ice Palace (1977)
• The Weather Clerk (1979)
• Ghost Ship to Ganymede (1980)
• World-Eater (1983)
• Brother in the Land (1984)
• The Thousand Eyes of Night (1985)
• Staying Up (1986)
• A Serpent's Tooth (1988)
• Room 13 (1989)
• Daz 4 Zoe (1990)
• Stone Cold (1993)
• Timesnatch (1994)
• Unbeliever (1995)
• Jacqueline Hyde (1996)
• The Last Bus (1996)
• Nightmare Stairs (1997)
• Smash! (1997)
• Hurricane Summer (1997)
• Abomination (1998)
• Dosh (1999)
• Invisible! (2000)
• Doodlebug Alley (2000)
• A Wish for Wings (2001)
• Wrecked (2001)
• Blitzed (2002)
• No Angels (2003)
• Ruby Tanya (2004)
• Roger's War (2004)
• Branded (2005)
• Snapshot (2005)
• Snakebite (2006)
• In the Nick of Time (2007)
• Burnout (2007)
• The Shade of Hettie Daynes (2008)
• The Tunnel (2008)
• Blitzed (2008)
• Night of the Bumming Horror (2009)

Awards and nominations

• 1985 Brother in the Land won the Red House Children's Book Award
• 1990 Room 13 won the Red House Children's Book Award
• 1993 Stone Cold won the Carnegie Medal
• 1998 Nightmare Stairs won the Red House Children's Book Award for A Short Novel
• 1998 Unbeliever won the Angus Book Award
• 2003 Blitzed won the Red House Children's Book Award For Younger Readers
• 2006 Branded longlisted for the Manchester Book Award
• '2001 Ruby Tanya shortlisted for the Hampshire Book Award

External links

• Biography and Quotations at Penguin Books website.
• Biography at BBC7's Big Toe Radio Show
• Biography, Interviews and Reviews at Channel 4's Bookbox
• Robert Swindells at Fantastic Fiction