Robert Swindells

Robert Swindells is an English author of children's and young-adult fiction, born in 1939, who trained as a primary school teacher and published his first novel in 1973 before becoming a full-time writer in 1980. He is best known for three widely read novels: Brother in the Land (1984), a post-apocalyptic story reflecting his support for nuclear disarmament; Room 13 (1989), a supernatural school-trip adventure; and Stone Cold (1993), which addresses youth homelessness in contemporary Britain and won the Carnegie Medal. Across a bibliography of more than fifty titles, he also received four Red House Children's Book Awards. Beyond writing, Swindells has been politically active, standing as a Green Party candidate in Bradford local elections in 2010 and 2011.