Brian Caswell was born on 13 January 1954 in a little village called Gwernaffield in Flintshire, Wales. He
moved with his family to England at the age of five. When he was twelve, his family emigrated to
Australia. He received a BA and a Dip Ed from the University of New South Wales, and since then has
taught in several high schools, specialising in history, English, and creative writing.
In a broad sense, hiscareer has followed the pattern of children’s literature itself, moving from teaching the young by direct instruction, to seeking to educate them through the entertaining medium of the novel. He currently lives in
Sydney with his wife Marlene, and four children-Michael, Claire, Nicholas, and Benjamin.
Brian Caswell takes the patterns of the past and casts them into the future as maps for the adolescent
generation of the present. His stories are strongly “theme-based”, moral tales for today in which characters
battle to save both their lives and their integrity in worlds other than a present, but which model dilemmas
with recognisable parallels to those faced by contemporary adolescents.
Merryll of the stones, his first novel, was named an Honour Book in the 1990 Children’s Book Council
(CBC) Book of the Year Award for Older Readers. His second novel, A cage of butterflies, was shortlisted
for the 1993 CBC Book of the Year Award, and Talking Book of the Year Award. In 1995 Deucalion
received the Children’s Peace Literature Award, and the Aurealis Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy
(Young Adult Section). Deucalion was also shortlisted for the 1996 CBC Book of the Year Award.
Lisdalia received the Multicultural Children’s Literature Award in 1995, and was highly commended in the
Human Rights Awards of the same year.
The National Centre is proud to hold Brian’s papers containing original manuscripts; handwritten and typed (including
author corrections and publisher annotations). The NCACL holds artwork from his unplublished manuscript:
Posted by: NCACL | Published: 10 Dec 2024
