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Diana Wynne Jones Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

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Diana Wynne Jones

Diana Wynne Jones

Diana Wynne Jones Biography

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.

"However, I was extremely dyslexic," says Diana, "so when I told my parents I wanted to be a writer, they just laughed." In spite of this, between the ages of twelve and fourteen, the young writer completed two epic tales scrawled in a total of twenty 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 C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. 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. Since then she has written over 40 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 organizations who have made a significant impact on fantasy. JK Rowling was runner-up on both occasions.

She died in Bristol, England in March 2011, aged 76. On Twitter, Neil Gaiman wrote: "Rest in Peace, Diana Wynne Jones. You shone like a star. The funniest, wisest writer & the finest friend. I miss you."

Diana Wynne Jones's website

This bio was last updated on 02/25/2016. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.

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Interview

Diana Wynne Jones discusses her childhood, during which she was deprived of almost all books by her father - which caused her to start writing her own - despite the ridicule of her parents and her own battles with dyslexia.

When did you decide to be a writer?
I decided to be a writer at the age of eight, but I did not receive any encouragement in this ambition until thirty years later. I think this ambition was fired - or perhaps exacerbated is a better word - by early marginal contacts with the Great, when we were evacuated to the English Lakes during the war. The house we were in had belonged to Ruskin's secretary and had also been the home of the children in the books of Arthur Ransome. One day, finding I had no paper to draw on, I stole from the attic a stack of exquisite flower-drawings, almost certainly by Ruskin himself, and proceeded to rub them out. I was punished for this.

Soon after, we children offended Arthur Ransome by making a noise on the shore beside his houseboat. He complained. So likewise did Beatrix Potter, who lived nearby. It struck me then that the Great were remarkably touchy and unpleasant (even if, in Ruskin's case, it was posthumous), and I thought I would like to be the same, without the unpleasantness.

When did you start writing?
I started writing children's books when we moved to a village in Essex where there were almost no books. The main activities there were hand-weaving, hand-making ...

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Books by this Author

Books by Diana Wynne Jones at BookBrowse
The Merlin Conspiracy jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Diana Wynne Jones but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
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    If you enjoyed:
    The Merlin Conspiracy

    Try:
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    If you enjoyed:
    The Merlin Conspiracy

    Try:
    Enchanted
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