Brian Jacques
Brian Jacques (1939-2011) was an English author of children’s fantasy novels. He is best known for his Redwall series. Brian grew up in Liverpool, where as a boy, his father read him the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle , Robert Louis Stevenson and Edgar Rice Burroughs . Despite his French-looking last name (which is actually pronounced “Jakes”), his family has never been able to find any record of having French ancestry. He originally wrote Redwall for blind children he met when he was delivering milk, but it got attention when his former English teacher Alan Durband (who had also taught Paul McCartney and George Harrison) showed it to his publisher and told them they’d be “foolish not to publish it.” Jacques passed away in February 2011 due to a heart attack.