James Aldridge

James Aldridge

Contributions

The Dog Who Lost His Memory (Kids’ Night In)

Biography

James Aldridge has written about thirty novels for adults and children, short stories, plays, non-fiction and television scripts. His writing has been published in forty languages. He lived in Egypt, Switzerland and the USA, and moved to London in 1938 to pursue a career in journalism. His dispatches as a war correspondent were published worldwide, and subsequently formed the basis of several of his early novels, including the prize-winning The Sea Eagle, about Australian troops in Crete. He was awarded the Gold medal for journalism by the Organisation for International Journalists in 1972.

The first twenty years of his life growing up in Swan Hill, Victoria, Australia inspired him to write the St Helen series he is famous for. Set in the 1930’s Depression, these include Ride a Wild Pony (adapted by Disney for the screen), My Brother Tom, which became a TV series, The True Story of Lilli Stubeck (Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year 1985)

The True Story of Spit MacPhee(Winner of the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize in 1986 and also made into a TV series) , The True Story of Lola McKellar(1992) and The Wings 0f Kitty St Clair (2006)
The Girl from the Sea (2003) was shortlisted for both the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year and The New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award

James Aldridge died in February 2015.

Contributions

The Dog Who Lost His Memory (Kids’ Night In)

Biography

James Aldridge has written about thirty novels for adults and children, short stories, plays, non-fiction and television scripts. His writing has been published in forty languages. He lived in Egypt, Switzerland and the USA, and moved to London in 1938 to pursue a career in journalism. His dispatches as a war correspondent were published worldwide, and subsequently formed the basis of several of his early novels, including the prize-winning The Sea Eagle, about Australian troops in Crete. He was awarded the Gold medal for journalism by the Organisation for International Journalists in 1972.

The first twenty years of his life growing up in Swan Hill, Victoria, Australia inspired him to write the St Helen series he is famous for. Set in the 1930’s Depression, these include Ride a Wild Pony (adapted by Disney for the screen), My Brother Tom, which became a TV series, The True Story of Lilli Stubeck (Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year 1985)

The True Story of Spit MacPhee(Winner of the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize in 1986 and also made into a TV series) , The True Story of Lola McKellar(1992) and The Wings 0f Kitty St Clair (2006)
The Girl from the Sea (2003) was shortlisted for both the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year and The New South Wales Premier’s Literary Award

James Aldridge died in February 2015.