Legend is a novel about men and wolves, man against nature, or, more importantly, nature against man. It is the story of a lone wolf, his pack slaughtered, his life dedicated to saving other packs from the men who trap them and kill them for revenge, sport or the thirty five dollar bounty per wolf their deaths bring. The men who hunt wolves, and one man who wants to protect wolves, interact with this lone wolf, this legend among man and wolf who will change their lives forever. It is a story of survival, spirituality, and the community of wolves under the burden of extinction by the hands of humans.
This epic adventure captures the wild beauty of the natural world of wolves, as well as the tainted and complex world of men and, through the inward search of tis haunted main character, mingles them together in a tale fraught with terror and tenderness, savagery and serenity. Although the book shifts nimbly between the world of wolves and the world of men, the author also has created a third world—a mythic realm where the two meet on a deeper level—or perhaps one should say “on a higher level”—and that is where the real heart of the story lies. --Dorothy Smiljanich --Then Sings My Soul
David Wood is a very promising writer. I wish him all success with his trilogy. --Peter Matthiessen --Shadow Country (A National Book Award Winner) --At Play in the Fields of the Lord --The Snow Leopard --Far Tortuga --co-founder of The Paris Review
DAVID WOOD began writing as a student at Oxford University in the sixties.
He wrote his first play for children in 1967 and has since written over sixty more. They are performed all over the world and include THE GINGERBREAD MAN (nine London seasons), THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT WENT TO SEE... (six London seasons, co-written with Sheila Ruskin), THE SELFISH SHELLFISH, THE SEE-SAW TREE, SAVE THE HUMAN (from the story he wrote with cartoonist Tony Husband), THE IDEAL GNOME EXPEDITION and THE PLOTTERS OF CABBAGE PATCH CORNER.
His stage adaptations of well-known books include Dick King-Smith's BABE THE SHEEP-PIG, Roald Dahl's THE BFG and THE WITCHES (both of which played long tours and two West End seasons), THE TWITS, JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH and FANTASTIC MR FOX, DANNY THE CHAMPION OF THE WORLD and GEORGE’S MARVELLOUS MEDICINE, HRH The Prince of Wales' THE OLD MAN OF LOCHNAGAR, Michael Foreman's DINOSAURS AND ALL THAT RUBBISH, Helen Nicoll and Jan Pienkowski's MEG AND MOG SHOW (five London seasons for Unicorn Theatre), Philippa Pearce's TOM'S MIDNIGHT GARDEN (which Unicorn Theatre played on tour, in the West End and on Broadway) and Judith Kerr’s THE TIGER WHO CAME TO TEA.
He was dubbed 'the national children's dramatist' by Irving Wardle in The Times and published, to rave reviews, THEATRE FOR CHILDREN: GUIDE TO WRITING, ADAPTING, DIRECTING AND ACTING (Faber), co-written with Janet Grant, which has become required reading on the subject in the UK and the US, and is now published in China.
He directed many of his plays for his own company, Whirligig Theatre (founded with John Gould in 1979), which for 25 years toured to major theatres nationwide include Sadler's Wells in London.
Film screenplays include SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS and BACK HOME, which won a gold award at the New York Film and TV Festival 1991. Writing for television includes the series CHIPS' COMIC, CHISH 'N' FIPS and THE GINGERBREAD MAN; and TIDE RACE, his filmed drama for Central Television and the European Broadcasting Union, has won several international awards.
For BBC Radio 4 he adapted Arthur Ransome's SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS.
He also writes children's books; with Richard Fowler he has co-created novelty books including BEDTIME STORY, MOLE'S SUMMER STORY, MOLE'S WINTER STORY, SILLY SPIDER, THE MAGIC SHOW, FUNNY BUNNY'S MAGIC SHOW and THE TOY CUPBOARD. He wrote THE PHANTOM CAT OF THE OPERA (illustrated by Peters Day).
David Wood has followed a parallel career as an actor, best remembered as Johnny in Lindsay Anderson's cult film IF... He is married to Jacqueline Stanbury; they have two grown-up daughters, Katherine and Rebecca.
In 2004 he was awarded an OBE for services to literature and drama in the Queen's birthday honours.
In 2006 he wrote THE QUEEN’S HANDBAG, a play to celebrate the Queen’s 80th birthday. It was performed by an all-star cast in Buckingham Palace Gardens at the Children’s Party at the Palace, and seen live on BBC 1 by 8,000,000 television viewers.