John Henry Ballard

Background

John Ballard was born in 1945, in the United States.

Education

John received a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University. Later he studied film and television at the graduate level at New York University.

Career

As a student in the 1960s, John Ballard became active in the civil rights movement. He left his studies at Harvard University to help lay the groundwork for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s voter-registration march in Selma, Alabama. He was even jailed briefly, and the entire experience fueled his interest in theories of civil disobedience and how social change occurs. Ballard grew particularly interested in the political teachings of Gandhi, and back at Harvard wrote his senior thesis on black youth and the choices confronting African-American teenagers. During a time of urban tensions in the summer of 1967, Ballard was hired by the mayoral campaign of John Lindsay because of the author's ability to relate to and reconcile racial differences. While there, he helped found the Harlem Community Service Center.

While at New York University, Ballard garnered praise for his early films, one of which was the feature film The Orphan, a story of child abuse starring actress Joanna Miles and author Malachy McCort, and featuring the music of Janis Ian. In the 1980s, the socially active Ballard became involved in efforts to aid Ethiopian and Eritrean famine victims, and from this work evolved a series of socially conscious young adult novels. These became his "Soul to Soul" adventure series featuring MacBurnie King, a smart, politically aware, and culturally inquisitive teenager from New York City.

Ballard also oversaw the adaptation of many of his screenplays into successful novels, including Walter Dean Myers’s award-winning books Hoops and The Outside Shot.

When Ballard is not either filming or writing, he can be found conducting cross-cultural workshops on young adult issues, participating in programs for “Youth at Risk” and “Teens Behind Bars,” or visiting high schools and junior high schools where he is a much sought-after speaker.

Achievements

• John Ballard is best known as author and screenwriter. He was included among "Best Books for the Teen Age" by New York Public Library in 1996, for Brothers and Sisters - Real Love Knows No Boundaries.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Macburnie King in Monsoon: Life Is Either a Daring Adventure or Nothing at All

    (In India to search for a missing boy she's been sponsorin...)

    1985
  • Macburnie King in Soulmates: A Novel to End World Hunger (Soul to Soul Series)

    (When the letters stop coming from the Indian boy sponsore...)

    1998
  • African-American Consciousness-Reclaiming Your History 1994
  • Brothers and Sisters: Real Love Knows No Boundaries (SOUL TO SOUL, BOOK 2) 1993
  • Soul to Soul: A Daring Adventure 1993

Views

In describing his writing process, Ballard commented: "First, I pick a subject that I'm outraged about, one that evokes such passions in me that it will sustain me long past the first burst of creativity through the mind-numbing months of revisions. Then I find an image or character to embody the passion behind the subject and plot out the changes this character will go through to evolve, character transformation is pivotal for me. Only then do I begin to write."

References

• Contemporary Authors A Bio-Bibliographical Guide to Current Writers in Fiction, General Non-Fiction, Poetry, Journalism, Drama, Motion Pictures, Television, and Other Fields
  2008