J.R.R.Tolkien (1892-1973) was a distinguished academic, though he
is best known for writing The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The
Silmarillion, plus other stories and essays. His books have been
translated into over 60 languages and have sold many millions of
copies worldwide.
Christopher Tolkien, born on 21 November 1924, is the third son of
J.R.R. Tolkien. During the Second World War he served in the Royal
Air Force and the Fleet Air Arm as a pilot. At the end of the war
he returned to Oxford University and became a Fellow and Tutor in
English of New College in 1964, lecturing in the University on
early English and northern literature. Appointed by J.R.R. Tolkien
to be his literary executor, he has devoted himself since his
father's death in 1973 to the editing and publication of
unpublished writings, notably The Silmarillion and Beowulf, and the
collections entitled Unfinished Tales and The History of
Middle-earth. Since 1975 he has lived in France with his wife
Baillie.
DIANA WYNNE JONES was born in August 1934 in London, where she had
a chaotic and unsettled childhood against the background of World
War II. The family moved around a lot, finally settling in rural
Essex. As children, Diana and her two sisters were deprived of a
good, steady supply of books by a father, ‘who could beat Scrooge
in a meanness contest’. So, armed with a vivid imagination and an
insatiable quest for good books to read, she decided that she would
have to write them herself.
She was extremely dyslexic, so when she told her parents she wanted
to be a writer, they just laughed. However between ages of 12 and
14, the young writer completed two epic tales scrawled in a total
of 20 copy books. This taught her from an early age the invaluable
lesson of how to finish a book.
Her higher education began in 1953 when she went up to St Anne’s
College Oxford, and attended lectures by CS Lewis and JRR Tolkein.
It was here she met her husband, John A Burrow, who is Professor of
English at Bristol University. They married in 1956 and have three
sons.
She has written both children’s books and plays (mostly performed
at the London Arts Theatre) and her first book was published in
1973. Between 1972 and 2011 she wrote over forty books. Her
enviably fertile mind has allowed her to write prolifically, even
when her three boys were small, and quite a handful! When writing,
she is totally absorbed in the book and on one never-to-be
forgotten occasion, her sons returned from school ravenous to find
she had shoved a pair of muddy shoes in the oven for their tea! She
says, ‘I am an inspirational writer. I forget meals and write with
ever-increasing speed.’
Diana Wynne Jones first conjured up the enigmatic and embroidered
dressing-gowned enchanter Chrestomanci in 1977. The adventures in
his magical worlds – for, as every budding sorcerer knows – there
are many series of parallel worlds – continue to enthral readers
all over the world.
‘Charmed Life’, the first book in the Chrestomanci series, won the
1977 Guardian Award for Children’s Books. Diana was runner-up for
the Children’s Book Award in 1981, and was twice runner-up for the
Carnegie Medal. In 1999, she won two major fantasy awards: the
children’s section of the Mythopeic Award in the USA, and the Karl
Edward Wagner Award in the UK – which is awarded by the British
Fantasy Society to individuals or organisations who have made a
significant impact on fantasy. JK Rowling was runner-up on both
occasions.
Meeting Diana you wouldn’t be surprised to find she has second
sight (though she hasn’t as far as I know). You’d think it quite
natural that she should be a writer of fantasy, a connoisseur of
witchcraft, a creator of parallel worlds. For her, magic isn’t
something that floats about unrooted in human nature. ‘Things we
are accustomed to regard as myth or fairy story are very much
present in people’s lives.’ She says, ‘Nice people behave like
wicked stepmothers. Every day.’
Diana Wynne Jones sadly died in April 2011 but has left behind her
a great legacy of fantasy fiction that will inspire generations of
children to come.
‘Moments of mythic grandeur’
Sunday Times ‘Another monument to the incredible imagination of
Tolkien’
Sunday Telegraph
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