Ivan Francis Southall AM, DFC was an Australian writer best known for young adult fiction.
21 Facts About Ivan Southall
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Ivan Southall wrote more than 30 children's books, six books for adults, and at least ten works of history, biography or other non-fiction.
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Ivan Southall's father died when Ivan was 14, and he and his brother Gordon were raised by their mother.
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Ivan Southall went to Mont Albert Central School and later Box Hill Grammar, but was forced to leave school early, and became an apprentice process engraver.
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Ivan Southall joined the Royal Australian Air Force on 19 Jun 1942 serving with 461 Squadron RAAF.
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Ivan Southall was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross for his role in sinking a German U-boat, U-385, in the Bay of Biscay on 11 August 1944.
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Ivan Southall returned to Australia with his English bride, Joy Blackburn.
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Ivan Southall tried his hand at farming at Monbulk, but the attempt foundered, so he became a full-time writer.
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Ivan Southall met his first wife, Joy Blackburn, during the Second World War and they had four children, Andrew, Roberta, Elizabeth and Melissa.
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Ivan Southall remarried, to Susan Stanton, whom he met in 1974 on his United States visit to deliver the May Hill Arbuthnot Lecture at the University of Washington.
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Ivan Southall began his career as a writer primarily writing historical accounts for adults.
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Ivan Southall wrote the official history of his Royal Australian Air Force squadron, 461 Squadron, based at Pembroke Dock, a town in South West Wales, when he was pilot of Short Sunderland flying boats.
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Ivan Southall wrote Softly Tread the Brave, describing the courage of Royal Australian Volunteer Naval Reserve bomb disposal officers, Hugh Syme and John Mould, who served in England disarming parachute mines.
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Ivan Southall dealt in his books both with survival in the face of dramatic events such as fire and flood and with personal and psychological challenges.
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Ivan Southall was one of the first to write specifically for young adults.
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Ivan Southall's best known children's novels include Hills End, Ash Road, Let the Balloon Go and Josh.
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Ivan Southall is the only Australian winner of the annual Carnegie Medal for British children's books, the 1971 award to Josh.
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Ivan Southall won the 1971 Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising Josh as the year's best children's book by a British subject.
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Ivan Southall was the first Medalist from outside the United Kingdom and remains the only one from Australia.
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Ivan Southall was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 1981.
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The Sly Old Wardrobe, written by Ivan Southall and illustrated by Ted Greenwood, was named Children's Picture Book of the Year in 1969.