The writer Jan Needle, who has died aged 80, was best known for his books and TV series for children but he also wrote seafaring novels, brutal crime thrillers, plays and TV series for adults. The unifying theme of all his stories was a commitment to social justice and a willingness to explore societal issues in a way that was finely balanced and fair, but also provocative and controversial.
This brought him success early in his career when his second book was shortlisted for the Guardian children’s book prize. My Mate Shofiq (1978), which tells how a growing friendship between two boys, one white and one Pakistani, expands the horizons of both, was praised for its well-balanced reflection of a multicultural contemporary school experience. Jan showed an equally sure touch in the books that followed, including A Sense of Shame and Other Stories (1980), a short-story collection reflecting teenagers’ experiences as they navigate prejudice and adult judgment, and Piggy in the Middle (1982), in which a young policewoman stands up against the institutional racism within her own community.
