Southall, Ivan (1921-2008), an Australian writer, achieved international fame for his books for children and young adults. Much of his fiction deals in a mature way with problems facing young people. Southall’s characters usually must face these problems without the guidance of adults. In many of his books, the endings are unresolved, leaving them up to the reader’s imagination. Southall won the Children’s Book of the Year Award four times, in 1966 for Ash Road, in 1968 for To the Wild Sky, in 1971 for Bread and Honey, and in 1976 for Fly West.
Southall first gained recognition for a series of nine children’s books about a courageous and resourceful airman named Simon Black, based on his own experiences as a pilot. The series began with Meet Simon Black (1950) and ended with Simon Black at Sea (1961). With Hills End (1962), Southall turned to writing about the real-life feelings, experiences, and problems of young people. Southall also wrote nonfiction for both young people and adults.
Ivan Francis Southall was born on June 8, 1921, in Melbourne, Australia. He began writing articles and short stories as a teenager. During World War II (1939-1945), he was a captain of a Sunderland flying boat and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. After the war, Southall settled on a small farm in the Dandenong Ranges, Victoria, and became one of the few Australians at that time to achieve a full-time career as a writer. Southall died on Nov. 15, 2008.
