James Brian Jacques (pronounced 'jakes') was born in Liverpool, England on June 15, 1939. Along with forty percent of the population of Liverpool, his ancestral roots are in Ireland, specifically County Cork. Brian grew up around the Liverpool docks and attended St. John's School, an inner-city school with a playground on its roof.

At the age of ten, his first day at St. John's foreshadowed his future career as an author. He was given an assignment to write a story about animals and penned a short story about a bird who cleaned a crocodile's teeth. His teacher could not, and would not, believe that a ten-year-old could write so well. When young Brian refused to falsely confess that he had copied the story, he was caned as "a lesson."

Brian Jacques is best known for his Redwall series of children's fantasy novels and the Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series. He also completed two collections of short stories entitled The Ribbajack & Other Curious Yarns and Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales.