William Forde

William Forde was born in Ireland and currently lives in Haworth, West Yorkshire with his wife Sheila. He is the father of five children and the author of over 60 published books and two musical plays. Approximately 20 of his books are suitable for the 7-11 year old readers while the remainder are suitable for young persons and adults. Since 2010, all of his new stories have been written for adults under his 'Tales from Portlaw' series of short stories. His website is www.fordefables.co.uk on which all his miscellaneous writings may be freely read. There are also a number of children's audio stories which can be freely heard.

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 and adults find most difficult to appropriately express.

One of West Yorkshire's most popular children's authors, Between 1990 and 2002 his books were 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. A former Chief Inspector of Schools for OFSTED described his writing to the press as 'High quality literature.' He has also written books which are suitable for adults along with a number of crossover books that are suitable for teenagers and adults.

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 32 primary schools in Falmouth, Jamaica and 32 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 writings and has allowed all profit from their sales (approx £200,000) to be given to charity. Since 2013, he was diagnosed with CLL; a terminal condition for which he is currently receiving treatment.

In 2014, William had his very first 'strictly for adult' reader's novel puiblished called‘Rebecca’s Revenge'. This book was first written over twenty years ago and spans the period between the 1950s and the New Millennium. He initially refrained from having it published because of his ‘children’s author credentials and charity work’. He felt that it would have conflicted too adversely with the image which had taken a decade or more to establish with his audience and young person readership. Now, however as he approaches the final years of his life and cares less about his public image, besides no longer writing for children (only short stories for adults since 2010), he feels the time to be appropriate to publish this ‘strictly for adults only’ novel alongside the remainder of his work.

In December 2016 he was diagnosed with skin cancer on his face and two weeks later he was diagnosed with High-grade Lymphoma (Richter’s Transformation from CLL). He was successfully treated during the first half of 2017 and is presently enjoying good health albeit with no effective immune system.

Website: http://www.fordefables.co.uk
Twitter: @fordefables
Facebook: Facebook profile
LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/william-forde/23/56/26a
Blog: http://www.fordefables.co.uk/bills-blog.html

http://www.amazon.co.uk

View more books by this author...

abandonment    action    adoption    adult rape    adulthood    adventure    africa    alcoholism    allotment holders    ambition    anger    anger management    anger outburst    anger outbursts    animals    apartheid    arranged marriages    ask a policeman    assembly topics    asylum seekers    authority    avarice    bear    beauty    behavioural rules    being assertive    belonging    bereavement    betrayal    bigamy    bisexuality    blessings and curse    bonfire    boxing    bravery    british history    british pride    broken marriages    broken relationship    bullfrog    bully    bullying    californian gold rush    carelessness    cats    cerebral palsy    challenge    change costs    change for better    cheat    cheating    child abuse    childhood    christmas    christmas misery    christmas party    class division    coal miners    cojoin twins    coming of age    community    community spirit    compassion    comradeship    conflict and resolution    control of emotions    courage    cruelty    curiosity    custom and tradition    dance    death and romance    deceit    democracy    depression    desolation    determination    development    devotion    disabilities    disablement    discrimination    dog lovers    downtrodden    dragon    dreams    dysfunctional family    easter    economic poverty    educational methods    effects of war    elephant    environment    evil    excitement    exile    experimentaion    expressing feelings    expression of feelings    failed relationships    family holiday    family values    fate    fear    fearlessness    first love    first world war    football    forgetfulness    forgotten love    fortune telling    freedom    freedom fighter    freedom fighters and terrorism    frustration    good neighbourliness    good over bad    good versus evil    good vs evil    greed    grief    groups vs individual    guilt    guy fawkes    gypsies    gypsy    hatred    heritage    historical    homelessness    honesty pays    hope    horse    hospital confessions    hospital romance    humour    identity    ill disciplined school pupils    illness    imagination    independence    india    indian    infidelity    infidelity adultery affairs    intervention of the gods    irish    jamaica    justice    kite    kite making kits    kites    land of hope    landmines    leadership    lesbian    lesbianism    liar    living rough    loss    loss of voice    lost    love    love and caring    love and laughter    love found    love lost    love of animals    love of family    magic    maker of all things    manhood    marriage    mental cruelty    midgets    migrants    mixing the social classes    mother daughter breakdown    motherinlaw dislike    murder    music box    mystery    name calling    nationalism    nelson mandala    nelson mandela    new love    northern drama    obedience    one woman and two men    oppression    orphaned    pancake    parenthood    perseverance    physical abuse    pit closures    positive attitude    poverty    power    progress    punishment    racism    rape    rape and revenge    redundancy    reform    rejection    relationships    relaxation    relocation    repentance and forgiveness    respect    revenge    romance    rose    rules    rules of conduct    sacrifice    sandcastle    saying no    scapegoat    school competition    seaside holiday    second chances    second world war    secrets in the night    separation    settledness    sexual identity    shattered dreams    sheep    sheep behaviour    shooting stars    single mother    smallness    snowman    solving problems    sore throat    south africa    special    spirit world    staying on top of things    stealing    sticking with it    stillborn    stillborn birth    stranger danger    submissive    survival    team spirit    theft    thief    tragedy    transformation    triabal history    trial and ordeal    trials and tribulations    trust    truth    unexpected opportunity    volcanic explosion    volcano    wager    war    who not to ask when lost    who to ask when lost    wish on a star    wizard    working things out