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Writers Directory

This unique, searchable database contains profiles of some of the UK and Commonwealth's most important living writers, as well as writers from these regions whom we have worked with. Included in the profiles are biographies, bibliographies, critical reviews, and information about awards.

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Writers directory

Adcock Caroline Forbes
Fleur Adcock

Poet Fleur Adcock was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on 10 February 1934, but spent much of her chil...

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JohnAgard
John Agard

Playwright, poet, short story and children's writer John Agard was born on 21 June 1949 in British G...

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Alan Ayckbourn c Adrian Gatie web
Sir Alan Ayckbourn

Sir Alan Ayckbourn was born in London in 1939, and has worked in theatre all his life. He has undert...

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bamforth BW
Iain Bamforth

Iain Bamforth was born in 1959 into a Plymouth Brethren family and grew up in Glasgow, where he atte...

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Biyi Bandele

Biyi Bandele was born in Nigeria in 1967, and now lives in London. He has written several plays, and...

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Julian Barnes

Novelist Julian Barnes was born in Leicester on 19 January 1946, and was educated at the City of Lon...

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Neil Bartlett c Camilla Broadbent 2 web
Neil Bartlett

Neil Bartlett was born in 1958 in Hertfordshire, and is a writer, playwright, translator, performer ...

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Susan Bassnett photo web
Susan Bassnett

Susan Bassnett is Professor of Comparative Literature in the Centre for Translation and Comparative ...

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Richard Berengarten
Richard Berengarten

Poet Richard Berengarten (formerly Burns) was born in London in 1943 into a family of musicians. He ...

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TBRESLINPicstanding
Theresa Breslin

Theresa Breslin is the critically acclaimed author of over 30 books whose work has been filmed for t...

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Kevin Brooks New web
Kevin Brooks

Kevin Brooks was born in 1959, grew up in Devon and now lives in North Yorkshire. He studied psychol...

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Anthony+Browne+website 2
Anthony Browne

Anthony Browne is a children's author/illustrator and lives in Kent. He was born in Sheffield in 194...

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Alan Brownjohn Black White David Barton
Alan Brownjohn

Poet Alan Brownjohn was born in London on 28 July 1931 and was educated at Merton College, Oxford. H...

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Ciaran Carson c Gerard Carson
Ciaran Carson

Poet and novelist Ciaran Carson was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1948. After graduating fro...

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Miranda Carter c Roderick Field colour web
Miranda Carter

Miranda Carter, biographer, was educated at St. Paul's Girls' School and Exeter College, Oxford. She...

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Clarke Gillian 2 CREDIT ADRIAN POPE website
Gillian Clarke

Gillian Clarke was born in Cardiff, Wales, and now lives with her family on a smallholding in Ceredi...

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BR Collins
B. R. Collins

B. R. Collins was born in 1981 and lives in Kent. She studied English at Kings College, Cambridge, t...

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constantine.jpg
David J. Constantine

Freelance writer, poet and translator, David Constantine was born in Salford, Lancashire, in 1944. H...

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cooke.jpg
Dominic Cooke

Dominic Cooke was born in 1966. He is currently Associate Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company,...

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Kevin Crossley Holland casual small web
Kevin Crossley-Holland

Kevin Crossley-Holland was born in 1941 in North Buckinghamshire and grew up in the Chilterns. He st...

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From Our Blog

Unwritten Poems – "there are more stories to tell"

By Eleanor Turney

Jay John talks to Eleanor Turney about the erasure of West Indian contributions to World War One, the importance of telling untold stories and how the global narrative had shifted since 1918

What We're Reading – September 2018

By Eleanor Turney

September is upon us, with its attendant feeling of a new school term. The Literature team share what they've been reading this month.

Unwritten Poems – a sense of urgency

By Eleanor Turney

Ishion Hutchinson, one of the poets involved in the Unwritten Poems project, talks about the joy of archives, memorialising forgotten voices and the current political climate

Q&A with Layla AlAmmar

By Tanya Andrews

Layla AlAmmar, British Council International Writer in Residence at Small Wonder Short Story Festival 2018, talks about the short story form, Kuwait's nascent literature scene and her own writing

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