Diana Wynne Jones
Diana Wynne Jones was born on the 16th of August 1934 in London. Her fifth birthday arrived just as World War II began. Shortly after that celebration, she left her parents to live with a grandfather in Pontarddulais, Wales. He served as a minister at a local chapel. A family dispute forced her departure from Wales within months. She moved several times during those early years. The family eventually settled in Thaxted, Essex, in 1943. There they ran an educational conference centre while Diana and her two sisters grew up largely unsupervised. She attended Friends' School in Saffron Walden before entering St Anne's College, Oxford. She studied English there and heard lectures by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. She graduated in 1956.
Jones began writing fiction in the mid-1960s mostly to keep her sanity. Her youngest child was about two years old when she started. The family lived in a house owned by an Oxford college. She felt harried by crises involving a sick husband, a mother-in-law, a sister, and a friend with a daughter. Her first book appeared in 1970 under the title Changeover. It originated as the British Empire divested its colonies. She recalled hearing every month that another small island or tiny country had gained independence. Rhodesia declared unilateral independence in 1965. She felt as if the book were coming true as she wrote it. The novel is set in a fictional African colony during transition. A memo about marking changeover ceremonially gets misunderstood as a threat from a terrorist named Mark Changeover. Macmillan published this farce featuring government, police, and army bureaucracies alongside sex, politics, and news.
Charmed Life won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 1978. This award is judged by a panel of children's writers. Jones received three commendations for the Carnegie Medal from the Library Association. These nominations covered Dogsbody in 1975, Charmed Life in 1977, and The Lives of Christopher Chant in 1988. The Crown of Dalemark concluded her Dalemark series. It won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award in the children's section in 1996. Dark Lord of Derkholm followed with another win in 1999. Four other years saw her as a finalist for the annual literary award by the Mythopoeic Society. Her work often explores themes of time travel and parallel or multiple universes. Some of her better-known works include the Chrestomanci series and the Dalemark series. She also wrote science fiction themes and elements of realism into some novels.
The 1986 novel Howl's Moving Castle was inspired by a boy at a school she visited. He asked her to write a book called The Moving Castle. Greenwillow published it first in the U.S. where it became a runner-up for the Boston Globe, Horn Book Award. Hayao Miyazaki made an animated movie version in 2004. That film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature. An English-dubbed version appeared in the UK and US in 2005. Christian Bale performed the voice of Howl. Jones and the novel won the Phoenix Award from the Children's Literature Association the following year. This award recognizes the best children's book published twenty years earlier that did not win a major award. Fire and Hemlock served as the 2005 Phoenix runner-up. It is based on Scottish ballads and was a Mythopoeic Fantasy finalist during its own time.
Jones was twice a finalist for the Hugo Award. She received fourteen nominations for the Locus Award. Seven times she was nominated for the Mythopoeic Award, which she won twice. Her British Fantasy Award came in 1999 after two previous nominations. She won the World Fantasy Award in 2007. Archer's Goon earned a World Fantasy Award nomination in 1985. The Tough Guide to Fantasyland won both a Hugo Award and a Locus Award in 1997. The British Fantasy Society recognized her impact with the Karl Edward Wagner Award in 1999. An honorary D.Litt arrived from the University of Bristol in July 2006. Google commemorated her with a Doodle created by Sophie Diao in August 2014.
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Common questions
When was Diana Wynne Jones born and where did she grow up?
Diana Wynne Jones was born on the 16th of August 1934 in London. She grew up in Thaxted, Essex after her family settled there in 1943.
What books won awards for Diana Wynne Jones during her career?
Charmed Life won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 1978 while The Crown of Dalemark won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award in 1996. Dark Lord of Derkholm also secured a win in 1999 and Howl's Moving Castle received the Phoenix Award in 2005.
How did Diana Wynne Jones write fiction and what inspired her first book?
Jones began writing fiction in the mid-1960s mostly to keep her sanity while managing family crises. Her first book Changeover appeared in 1970 and originated from events surrounding the British Empire divesting its colonies.
Who voiced Howl in the animated movie version of Diana Wynne Jones work released in 2004?
Christian Bale performed the voice of Howl in the English-dubbed version that appeared in the UK and US in 2005. Hayao Miyazaki made the original animated movie version in 2004 which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature.
Which major literary awards did Diana Wynne Jones receive or get nominated for?
Diana Wynne Jones won the World Fantasy Award in 2007 and received fourteen nominations for the Locus Award. She was twice a finalist for the Hugo Award and seven times nominated for the Mythopoeic Award which she won twice.