Bernard Ashley

BIO

Bernard Ashley lives in Charlton, south east London, only a street or so from where he was born. During his career as a teacher and headteacher he worked in Kent, Hertfordshire, Newham and Greenwich.

He is now writing full time. His first novel, THE TROUBLE WITH DONOVAN CROFT, was published in 1974 and won the 'Other' Award, an alternative to the Carnegie Medal (for which he has been a runner-up twice). Thirteen further novels have followed, gaining him a reputation as a 'gritty' writer in sympathy with the under dog. In Margaret Meek's view he gets inside children's heads, who say that this is what it's like for them.

Bernard's latest novel is REVENGE HOUSE, a thriller for teenagers. Before that came LITTLE SOLDIER.

Television work has included RUNNING SCARED (from which he wrote the novel) and his adaptation of his own DODGEM which won the Royal Television Society award as the best children's entertainment of its year. Bernard's adaptation of his JUSTIN AND THE DEMON DROP KICK, made by Carlton, was shown in fifteen countries. A strong family man, Bernard is married to Iris Ashley, until recently a London headteacher, and they have three sons. Their eldest, Chris, also a headteacher, co-wrote with Bernard the TV series Three Seven Eleven, and his latest book WASIM IN THE DEEP END is published by Red Fox. David is a London headteacher and an expert on literacy, and Jonathan is an actor and playwright, whose new play 'Stiffs' was recently staged in North London. They have four grandchildren, Paul, Carl, Rosie and Luke.

Bernard is on the Board of Governors at the Greenwich Theatre and is a member of the BAFTA Children's Awards Committee.

INTERVIEW

February 26, 2002

Bernard Ashley shares his thoughts on his childhood, becoming a writer and Zairian boy soldiers with Ashley Hartlaub, our Teenreads.com reviewer.

TRC: What was your childhood like?

BA: My childhood was very happy. I was driven by the war in Europe, the bombing and evacuations to other parts of the country, but we were a happy family unit.  Father (who served in the Fire Service in the blitz), mother (who had two lively boys to contend with on her own) and brother younger Michael. Later, after the war, my parents bought and ran a local store in Kent --- and we didn't have as much of their time as we'd have liked. But we were still a unit. What that period taught me was the difficulty of uprooting and living in a new neighborhood --- some of which has come out in my writing.

TRC: What influenced you to become a writer?

BA: I wasn't influenced to become a writer --- I just started writing stories for the children in my class when I was a teacher. They were shown by my principal to a publisher and I got started. However, I was greatly helped and encouraged by a published writer who taught with me --- Roy Brown, sadly dead now. He was so generous.

TRC: When did you start to write?

BA: 1965

TRC: How long does it usually take you to write a book?

BA: A novel takes up to a year, a shorter book obviously a shorter time. A novel starts slowly, a bit today, a bit tomorrow, but it gathers pace towards the end --- and when I was teaching I would get up an hour early to get on with it if only to find out how it ended!

TRC: Where do you get your ideas for your books and characters?

BA: Ideas come from all around --- a chance remark, an image on TV or in the street, a news item in the paper. Then it starts to grow. But I've found it's a process you can't force to happen. I feel sorry for people (like kids in school) who have to write to order.

TRC: You always seem to write children's books. Why is this your chosen theme?

BA: I write books for children and young people because they have been my life, in schools and at home.

TRC: Are you planning to make any of your books into movies in the future? Why or why not?

BA: I'd love to make a movie of one of my books. Know any producers? I think LITTLE SOLDIER would make a great film! (he says modestly).

TRC: What is the most rewarding thing about being a writer?

BA: What is rewarding is the thrill of knowing that someone is going to spend some time (sort of) in your mind. It's a privilege to borrow someone else's brain for a bit.

TRC: Why did seeing Zairian boy soldiers on television inspire you to write THE LITTLE SOLDIER?

BA: I was struck by the sadness of seeing children who should have had a childhood and an education being forced through circumstances (and sometimes plain force) to do the most adult of things --- to fight and to kill.

TRC: Name a book that you have written in the past six months that you would recommend to another reader and why you would recommend it.

BA: My latest book is called REVENGE HOUSE. It's a thriller for teenagers, in a sort of KEY LARGO atmosphere.


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