Downstream

John Rowe Townsend was born on May 19, 1922. He received an English degree from Emmanuel College. After graduation he decided to pursue journalism and worked briefly on the Yorkshire Post and Evening Standard. He worked at the Manchester Guardian as a subeditor and art editor, and was editor of the Guardian Weekly from 1955. Even though he left the paper in 1969 to become a full-time writer, he remained children's books editor until 1978 and a columnist until 1981. He founded the influential Guardian children's fiction prize.

His first novel, Gumble's Yard, was published in 1961. His other novels include Noah's Castle, Good-Night, Prof, Love, and Cranford Revisited. The Intruder won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and the Edgar Award for juvenile mystery. He also wrote non-fiction books including A Sense of Story and edited Trade and Plumb-Cake for Ever, Huzza! He died on March 24, 2014 at the age of 91.

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