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James Vance Marshall is the pseudonym of Donald Payne, author of a number of well-regarded novels for children. His books include A River Ran Out of Eden (1962) and White-Out (1999), but his most famous work is without doubt Walkabout (1964), first published as The Children and later made into a movie directed by Nicolas Roeg and starring Jenny Agutter. He has recently finished writing Stories from the Billabong, a collection of traditional Aboriginal stories, with illustrations by the well-known Aborigine artist Francis Firebrace.
Donald is himself a prolific author, still writing under a number of pseudonyms. Educated at Charterhouse and Corpus Christi, Oxford, he served in the Second World War as a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm, and after working in publishing became a full time writer in the 1950s. He has ghost-written and co-authored many books, and also writes under the name Ian Cameron. Most of his books feature a combination of history, adventure and travel, including The Impossible Dream, the story of the building of the Panama Canal, Lost Paradise, an exploration of the Pacific, and Kingdom of the Sun God, a history of the Andes and their people. His other books include an early history of the Royal Geographical Society (entitled To the Farthest Ends of the Earth) and Riders of the Storm: the Story of the RNLI (2002).
Donald’s books have sold over twenty-one million copies and been translated in seventeen languages, with three adapted for film, including The Lost Ones (1961), dramatized by Disney as The Island at the Top of the World.
Recent books:
Stories from the Billabong (Frances Lincoln: due 2008)
White-Out (Soho: 2002)
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