James Clavell

James Clavell was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1921, the son of a British Royal Navy officer. He grew up in England and followed his father into the military, joining the Royal Artillery at the outbreak of World War II. In 1942, the Japanese captured him in Java. He spent the next three and a half years in Changi prison camp in Singapore — an experience that shaped everything he would ever write.

After the war, Clavell moved to Hollywood and became a screenwriter. He wrote the screenplay for The Fly (1958) and co-wrote The Great Escape (1963). In 1967, he wrote, produced, and directed To Sir, With Love, starring Sidney Poitier — a film that became a classic of its era.

The moment that turned Clavell from screenwriter to novelist came through his daughter. She was reading a history textbook that said of the English Civil War: “The schoolchildren had the day off.” She asked him: What do children learn if their textbooks say this? Clavell decided to write a novel about what really happened. That novel became King Rat (1962), a semi-autobiographical account of life in Changi — and the first volume of what would become the Asian Saga.

The Asian Saga

Shōgunmade Clavell famous worldwide — it spent 32 weeks at number one on the New York Times bestseller list. He died on September 6, 1994, in Vevey, Switzerland, at the age of 72. His novels remain in print, loved by millions of readers who discovered Asia through his eyes.