Ian Serraillier

Ian Serraillier (September 24, 1912 - November 28, 1994), was a British novelist and poet. Serraillier was best known for his children's books, especially "The Silver Sword" (1956), a wartime adventure story which was adapted for television by the BBC in 1957 and again in 1971.

Biography

Serraillier was born in London, the oldest of four children. His father died as a result of the 1918 flu pandemic when he was only six years old. He was educated at Brighton College, and took his degree at St Edmund Hall, Oxford and became an English teacher during World War II. As a Quaker he was awarded conscientious-objector status in 1940. He taught at Wycliffe College in Gloucestershire from 1936 to 1939; at Dudley Grammar School in Worcestershire from 1939 to 1946; and at Midhurst Grammar School in West Sussex from 1946 to 1961.

In 1946 his first children’s novel was published. It was followed by several more adventure stories of treasure and spies. His best known work, "The Silver Sword", was published in 1956 and has become a classic, bringing to life the story of four refugee children and their search for their parents in the chaos of Europe immediately after World War II.

As well as children’s novels and poetry, Serrailler produced his own retellings of classic tales in prose and verse, including Beowulf, Chaucer and Greek myth. Together with his wife Anne Margaret Rogers he founded the New Windmill Series in 1948, published by Heinemann Educational Books, which set out to provide inexpensive editions of good stories. He continued as co-editor of the series until the onset of Alzheimer's disease in the early 1990s. The illness finally contributed towards his death in November 1994 at the age of 82.

Papers of Ian Serraillier

The "Papers of Ian Serraillier" collection, held at the University of Reading, consists largely of manuscripts, typescripts and galley proofs, including "Fight for Freedom", "The Clashing Rocks", "The Cave of Death", "Havelock the Dane", "They Raced for Treasure", "Flight to Adventure" and "The Silver Sword". It also contains correspondence with publishers; other business and literary correspondence; notebooks with poems, ideas and story outlines; rejection letters; publishers' agreements; press cuttings; research material; lecture notes and typescripts; obituaries, and other miscellaneous papers.