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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

Kate Atkinson CURRENT c Euan Myles
Kate Atkinson

Kate Atkinson was born in York in 1951 and studied English Literature at Dundee University. After gr...

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Margaret Atwood c Jean Malek web
Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood was born in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1939. She is the daughter of a forest entomologist, ...

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TashAw StacyLiu 2106 Version 3 web
Tash Aw

Tash Aw was born in Taiwan to Malaysian parents and grew up in Kuala Lumpar. He moved to England in ...

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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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Trezza Azzopardi
Trezza Azzopardi

Trezza Azzopardi was born in Cardiff. She studied Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia ...

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Paul Bailey c Jonathan Ring web
Paul Bailey

Writer and broadcaster Paul Bailey was born on 16 February 1937. He won a scholarship to the Central...

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Raj
Rajeev Balasubramanyam

Rajeev Balasubramanyam was born in 1974 in Lancashire, and his family comes from Southern India. He ...

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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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John Banville
John Banville

Irish novelist John Banville was born in Wexford in Ireland in 1945. He was educated at a Christian ...

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Nicola Barker c Tony Davis
Nicola Barker

Nicola Barker was born in Ely, Cambridgeshire, in 1966. She spent part of her life in South Africa b...

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Pat Barker c Justine Stoddard 2015 USE THIS ONE web
Pat Barker

Novelist Pat Barker was born in Thornaby-on-Tees in Yorkshire, England, on 8 May 1943. She was educa...

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PatrickBarkham.jpg
Patrick Barkham

Patrick Barkham was born in 1975 in Norfolk and  educated at Cambridge University. He is a national ...

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Nick Barlay
Nick Barlay

Nick Barlay is the author of three novels: Curvy Lovebox (1997), Crumple Zone (2000) and Hooky Gear ...

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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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Simon Barraclough c Jamie Ryan
Simon Barraclough

Simon Barraclough was born and raised in Huddersfield and studied at the universities of Nottingham ...

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Sebastian Barry credit Photograph courtesy of the Irish Times
Sebastian Barry

Sebastian Barry was born on 5 July 1955 in Dublin and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. His acade...

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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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Jonathan Bate
Jonathan Bate

Jonathan Bate studied at Cambridge and Harvard universities. Well known as a biographer, critic, bro...

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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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