Arthur Ransome

Arthur Ransome CBE
Cover of Ransome's autobiography
Born	Arthur Michell Ransome (1884-01-18)18 January 1884 Leeds, England
Died	3 June 1967(1967-06-03) (aged 83) Cheadle Royal Hospital, Cheshire, England
Resting place	St Paul's Church, Rusland, Cumbria, England
Occupation	Author, journalist
Genre	Children's literature
Notable works	Swallows and Amazons series of books
Notable awards	Carnegie Medal 1936

Arthur Michell Ransome CBE (18 January 1884 – 3 June 1967) was an English author and journalist. He is best known for writing and illustrating the Swallows and Amazons series of children's books about the school-holiday adventures of children, mostly in the Lake District and the Norfolk Broads. The entire series remains in print, and Swallows and Amazons is the basis for a tourist industry around Windermere and Coniston Water, the two lakes Ransome adapted as his fictional North Country lake.

He also wrote about the literary life of London, and about Russia before, during, and after the revolutions of 1917. His connection with the leaders of the Revolution led to him providing information to the Secret Intelligence Service, while he was also suspected by MI5 of being a Soviet spy.