Author's Background
William Forde was born in Ireland and currently lives in Haworth, West Yorkshire, England. He is the father of five children and the author of over 30 published books and a musical play.
He is unique in the field of contemporary children's authors through the challenging emotional issues and story themes he addresses, preferring to focus upon those emotions that children find most difficult to appropriately express.
One of West Yorkshire's most popular children's authors, his books have been publicly read in over 2,000 Yorkshire school assemblies by over 800 famous names and celebrities from the realms of Royalty, Film, Stage, Screen, Politics, Church, Sport, etc. The late Princess Diana used to read his earlier books to her then young children, William and Harry and Nelson Mandela once telephoned him to praise an African story book he had written. Others who have supported his works have included three Princesses, three Prime Ministers, two Presidents and numerous Bishops of the realm. Former Chief Inspector of Schools for Ofsted, Chris Woodhead described his writings to the press as ‘high quality literature.’
Forever at the forefront of change, at the age of 18 years, William became the youngest Youth Leader and Trade Union Shop Steward in Great Britain. In 1971, he founded Anger Management in Great Britain and freely gave his courses to the world. Within the next two years, Anger Management courses had mushroomed across the English-speaking world. During the mid-70's, he introduced Relaxation Training into H.M. Prisons and between 1970 and 1995, he worked in West Yorkshire as a Probation Officer specialising in Relaxation Training, Anger Management, Stress Management and Assertive Training Group Work.
He retired early on the grounds of ill health in 1995 to further his writing career, which witnessed him working with the Minister of Youth and Culture in Jamaica to establish a trans-Atlantic pen-pal project between 30 primary schools in Falmouth, Jamaica and 30 primary schools in Yorkshire.
William was awarded the MBE in the New Year's Honours List of 1995 for his services to West Yorkshire. He has never sought to materially profit from the publication of his books and has allowed all profit from their sales (approx £200,000) to be given to charity.
Previous Titles include:
'Everyone and Everything'
'Douglas the Dragon': Book 1, ‘Douglas the Unloved Dragon’
‘Douglas the Dragon’: Book 2, ‘Douglas gets Angry Again’
‘Douglas the Dragon’: Book 3, ‘Douglas gets the Sneezes’
Douglas the Dragon’: Book 4, ‘Douglas and Desmorelda’
‘Douglas the Dragon Omnibus’( All four Douglas the Dragon stories)
‘Douglas the Dragon: Musical Play’
'Sleezy the Fox': Book 1. Sleezy Gets a Second Chance
'Sleezy the Fox': Book 2. Sleezy Becomes an Amazing Scapegoat
'Sleezy the Fox': Book 3. Snoozy Catches Forty Winks
'Sleezy the Fox': Book 4. Gilbert Is Reformed
‘Sleezy the Fox Omnibus’ ( All four Sleezy the Fox stories)
'Annie's Christmas Surprise'
‘Annie’s Snowman’
‘Annie’s Pancake’
‘Annie’s Easter Bunny’
‘Annie’s Rainbow’
‘Annie’s Birthday Surprise’
‘Annie’s Music Box’
‘Annie’s Seaside Surprise’
‘Annie and the Bullfrog’
‘Annie and the Magician’
‘Annie’s Kite’
‘Annie’s Bonfire’
‘Action Annie’ (An omnibus of all twelve Annie Books)
'Our World' (A collaborative book of environmental stories by William Forde and Kirklees Primary School children)
'Midnight Fighter'
'Maw'
'Butterworth's Brigade'
'Nancy's Song'
'Tales of Bernard'
'Fighter' (A combined book of ‘Midnight Fighter’ and ‘Maw’)
'Tales from the Allotments'
'Robin and the Rubicelle Fusiliers'
‘Lost Lucy’
‘Lost Kingdom’
'Lost' (A combined book of ‘Lost Lucy ‘and ‘Lost Kingdom’)
‘The Valley of The Two Tall Oaks’
‘Indian Dreams Come True’
'Two Worlds - One Heart' (A combined book of ‘The Valley of The Two Tall Oaks’ and ‘Indian Dreams Come True’)
‘Bucket Bill’
'One Love, One Heart' (A combined book of ‘The Valley of The Two Tall Oaks’ and ‘Bucket Bill’)
‘The Bear with a Sore Head’
‘Elephants Cry Too’
‘Solo and Soloman’
‘Bes’
'Bes' (A combined book of ‘The Bear with a Sore Head’: ‘Elephants Cry Too’:’ Solo and Soloman’: ‘Bes’)
‘Four Crude Dudes and The Land of Hope’
‘Two Crude Dames and Horace Catchpole’
'Greed' (A combined book of ‘Four Crude Dudes and The Land of Hope’ and ‘Two Crude Dames and Horace Catchpole’)
'The Kilkenny Cat' (a presentational publication for schoolchildren in Falmouth, Jamaica. Written originally as a single book but later revised and incorporated into 'The Kilkenny Cat' Trilogy)
'The Kilkenny Cat: Book One: Truth'
'The Kilkenny Cat: Book Two: Justice'
'The Kilkenny Cat: Book Three: Freedom'
Everyone and Everything Page 14
