aboutjameswatson

About James Watson

James Watson has published 12 books for young readers, the majority of them for young adults. His themes focus on human rights, globally as well as at home - in Chile (Talking in Whispers), Spain (The Freedom Tree), Eastern Europe (Ticket to Prague) and East Timor (Justice of the Dagger).

Talking in Whispers won The Other Award, was Highly Commended in the Carnegie Medal awards and was winner of the German prize for youth literature on contemporary themes, the Buxtehude Bulle Award. It is widely used in schools as a GCSE English text.

There have been editions of his novels in Danish, Dutch, German, Hungarian, Japanese, Spanish, Swedish and Welsh, while his novella, The Ghosts of Izieu, published by Penguin Longman, has received world-wide distribution.

His first play for school reading and production, Banned! Or, Tom Paine, This Was Your Life was published in 2003 by Collins Educational and followed by Gotcha! Wars-R-Us. in 2007.

Novels
Sign of the Swallow (Nelson), The Bull Leapers (Gollancz; Coward-McCann), Legion of The White Tiger (Gollancz), The Freedom Tree (Gollancz; HarperCollins; Puffin), Talking in Whispers (Gollancz; Fawcett Juniper; Lion Tracks; HarperCollins Cascades; Puffin), Where Nobody Sees (Gollancz; HarperCollins), No Surrender (Gollancz; HarperCollins), Ticket to Prague (Gollancz; HarperCollins; Puffin), Justice of the Dagger (Puffin, HarperCollins).

In preparation:
Pigs Might Fly
Fair Game: The Steps of Odessa

Novella
The Ghosts of Izieu (Penguin Longman).

Short Stories
Make Your Move, and Other Stories (Gollancz; Lions Tracks).

Plays for Schools
Banned! Tom Paine, This was Your Life and Gotcha! Wars-R-Us.com.

Recently completed and available for schools and youth drama groups:

Robin Hood: the Play, or How Prince John Pitted His Wits Against the Outlaws of Sherwood Forest.

For younger children
The Noisy Ducks of Buxtehude (dual language, English/German,,Verlag An Der Este, Buxtehude, Germany).

Educational
For many years a teacher of media and communication, he is the author of Media Communication: An Introduction to Theory and Process (Palgrave/Macmillan, 3rd edition, 2008) and, with Anne Hill, The Dictionary of Media & Communication Studies (7th edition. 2006). He has recently contributed a chapter on models of communication to an Open University publication, Key Themes in Interpersonal Communication (2007), edited by Anne Hill. ‘Representing Realities: An Overview of News Framing’ was published in Tokyo’s Keio University Communication Review (29, 2007). Other educational publications include What is Communication Studies? (Arnold), Liberal Studies in Further Education (NFER) and Teaching and Learning About Human Rights:Six Assignments on Censorship (Amnesty International).

Journalism
Before entering education the author began working life as a journalist. He was a reporter on the Teesside Evening Gazette and art critic on that newspaper. He has written on art and education for The Times, Times Educational Supplement, the Guardian, Studio, Arts Review, Yorkshire Post, Liberal Education, Books for Keeps and Derbyshire Life.

Radio
Dramas for radio (BBC Radio 4 and Australia BC): Gilbert Makepeace Lives! Venus Rising from the Sea, A Slight Insurrection, What a Little Moonlight Can Do; and a four-part dramatisation for BBC Radio Five, of No Surrender.

Contact James Watson at watsonworks@watsonworks.co.uk