David Rees (author)

David Rees (author)

David Bartlett Rees (1936 - 1993) was a British author, lecturer and reviewer. Much of his work was written for children and young adults. His books included The Exeter Blitz, which won the Carnegie Medal for 1978.[1]

Biography

David Rees was born in Surbiton in 1936.[2] He attended King's College School, Wimbledon, and Queens' College, Cambridge, where he attained a BA in 1958 and an MA in 1961. He worked as a school teacher before becoming a lecturer at St. Luke's College, Exeter, in 1968. Ten years later he became lecturer in education when the college became a part of the University of Exeter. He remained at the University until 1984, when he began to write full-time. In 1986 he founded the publishing company Third House with fellow writer Peter Robins. His autobiography, Not For Your Hands, was published in 1992.

Much of his work can be classed as young adult fiction. Some of his fiction was contemporary, some historical, with settings including Devon and Ireland. His books Quintin's Man and In the Tent were the first teen books in the UK to have gay central characters.[3] The Milkman's on His Way was cited in the British Parliament by a proponent of Section 28, as promoting homosexuality.[4]

He published two collections of essays on contemporary writers of fiction for children and young adults, The Marble in the Water and Painted Desert, Green Shade.[5]

Selected bibliography

  • Storm Surge (1975)
  • Quintin's Man (1976)
  • The Ferryman (1977)
  • The House that Moved (1978)
  • The Exeter Blitz (1978)
  • The Green Bough of Liberty (1979)
  • In the Tent (1979)
  • Silence (1979)
  • The Marble in the Water (1980)
  • The Milkman's on His Way (1982)
  • The Estuary (1983)
  • Painted Desert, Green Shade (1984)
  • Islands (1984)
  • A Better Class of Blond; A California Diary (1985)
  • The Hunger (1986)
  • Twos and Threes (1987)
  • The Flying Island (1988)
  • The Colour of His Hair (1989)
  • Letters to Dorothy (1991)
  • Flux (1991)
  • Not For Your Hands (1992)

References

  1. ^ The CILIP Carnegie Medal & Kate Greenaway Children's Book Awards
  2. ^ Literary papers of David Rees
  3. ^ Books For Keeps
  4. ^ Hansard
  5. ^ Introduction to article in Children's Literature in Education


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