British writer Joseph Delaney, author of the series of children's novels
L'Epouvanteur
, died of illness at the age of 77, his family announced on Thursday.
This former English teacher had launched late into fantasy literature and youth novels.
After a first book under a pseudonym in 1997, he published the first volume of his series
l'Epouvanteur
in 2004, adapted for the cinema in 2014. After this first success, he left his job as a teacher, and 12 other volumes were published.
followed until 2017, published in France by Bayard jeunesse.
He was also the author of the
Starblade Chronicles
, the
Brother Wulf
series, and several short story collections, nearly all in the same fantasy vein.
"I was inspired by
Tolkien
and I wanted to write like him,"
he explained on his website.
But after the rejection of several manuscripts, he reoriented himself towards children's literature on the advice of his agent.
“I absolutely don't regret it,”
he added, welcoming the many trips and meetings with young readers that followed.
He was an author "with an unlimited imagination" and a "wonderful father"
The Writer's Children
His books, translated into thirty languages, have sold more than 4.5 million copies worldwide.
His three children hailed in a statement an author
“with an unlimited imagination”
and a
“wonderful father”
who told them, children,
“scary stories that should not have been told after dark”
.
They also paid tribute to an
"extremely caring man, with a great sense of humor, especially after a glass of wine"
, and who had continued to write
"as long as he could"
.
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