Adams, Richard (1920-2016), was an English author best known for his first novel , Watership Down (1972). The novel became one of the most popular books of the late 1900’s and has been sold as a work for both children and adults. In 1972, it won the Carnegie Medal, an annual British award for an outstanding book written for children and young people.
Watership Down follows the adventures of a group of rabbits who talk and act like human beings. They must find a new home because their warren is being destroyed to make way for a building project. The novel has been praised as an exciting adventure story. In addition, some critics have claimed that Watership Down explores religious and philosophical themes as the narrative follows the rabbits in their struggle for survival. Adams returned to the Watership Down characters in a series of 19 related stories collected as Tales from Watership Down (1996).
Adams set his second novel, Shardik (1974), in a legendary country where people worship a giant bear. The Plague Dogs (1977) describes the adventures of two dogs who escape from an animal experimentation laboratory in the Lake District of northwestern England. The Girl in a Swing (1980) follows the meeting and marriage of a young Englishman and a mysterious German woman. Traveller (1988) takes place during the American Civil War (1861-1865). The narrative is told by Traveller, the horse ridden by Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The Outlandish Knight (2000) tells about three generations of English minstrels beginning in 1485. Adams also published folk tales and children’s verse and wrote an autobiography, The Day Gone By (1990).
Richard George Adams was born on May 9, 1920, in Newbury, Berkshire . He graduated from Worcester College, part of Oxford University, in 1948 with a degree in history. His studies at Oxford were interrupted by his service in the British military during World War II (1939-1945). Adams was a civil servant, working in the Ministry of Housing and Local Government and the Department of Environment from 1948 to 1974. He then became a full-time writer. Adams died on Dec. 24, 2016.
