Nationality: Nigerian. Born: Albert Chinualumogu in Ogidi, 1930. Education: Government College, Umuahia, 1944-47; University College, Ibadan, 1948-53, B.A. (London) 1953. Career: Talks producer, Lagos, 1954-57, controller, Enugu, 1958-61, and director, Voice of Nigeria, Lagos, 1961-66, Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation; chairman, Citadel Books Ltd., Enugu, 1967. Senior research fellow, 1967-73, pr…
Nationality: British. Born: London, 1949. Education: St. Benedict's, Ealing, 1960-67; Clare College, Cambridge, 1968-71; Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (Mellon fellow), 1971-73. Career: Literary editor, 1973-77, and joint managing editor, 1978-81, the Spectator, London; chief book reviewer, the Times, London, from 1986; editor, president, and CEO, Tuttle Publishing; editor, Element…
Nationality: Australian. Born: Sydney, 1939. Education: University of Sydney, B.A. (honours) 1962; Columbia University, New York, M.S. 1965. Career: Writing Workshop instructor, Columbia University, New York, and Sarah Lawrence College; fiction writing teacher at University of Technology, Sydney; associate director, Teachers and Writers Collaborative, New York, 1973-76. Awards: Miles Franklin Lite…
Nationality: British. Born: Newbury, Berkshire, 1920. Education: Bradfield College, Berkshire, 1933-38; Worcester College, Oxford, 1938-39, 1946-48, B.A. in modern history 1948, M.A. 1953. Military Service: Served in the British Army, 1940-46. Career: Worked in the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, London, 1948-68; Assistant Secretary, Department of the Environment, London, 1968-74. Writer…
Nationality: Ghanaian. Born: Abeadzi Kiakor, Ghana, 1942. Education: University of Ghana, Legon, B.A. (honours) 1964; Stanford University, California. Career: Lecturer in English, University of Cape Coast, Ghana, 1970-82; Minister of Education, 1982-83; writer-in-residence, University of Richmond, Virginia, 1989; chair, African Regional Panel of the Commonwealth Writers' prize, 1990, 1991; …
Nationality: British. Born: East Dereham, Norfolk, 1925. Education: Framlingham College, Suffolk, 1936-39; West Buckland School, 1939-42. Military Service: Served in the Royal Corps of Signals in the Far East, 1943-47. Career: Bookseller, Oxford, 1947-56; literary editor, Oxford Mail, 1958-69; science-fiction editor, Penguin Books, London, 1961-64; art correspondent, Guardian, London, 1969-71. Pre…
Nationality: Australian. Born: White Hills, Victoria, 1918. Education: Swan Hill High School; London School of Economics. Career: Writer, Melbourne Herald and Sun, 1937-38, and London Daily Sketch and Sunday Dispatch, 1939; European and Middle East war correspondent, Australian Newspaper Service and North American Newspaper Alliance, 1939-44; Tehran correspondent, Time and Life, 1944. Awards: Rhy…
Nationality: American. Born: Spokane, Washington, 7 October 1966. Education: Gonzaga University, 1985-87; Washington State University, B.A. 1991. Awards: Poetry fellow, Washington State Arts Commission, 1991; National Endowment for the Arts, 1992; winner, Slipstream's fifth annual chapbook contest, March 1992; American Book Award, 1996. Sherman Alexie, whose works repeatedly underscore the…
Nationality: Canadian. Born: Trinidad, 1957. Career: Playwright, radio writer, poet, and writer of fiction. Awards: Trillium Book Award, 1999. Agent: c/o McClelland & Stewart, Inc., 481 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M5G 2E9 Canada. Inclined towards experimental and avant-garde modes in his plays and performance-art collaborations, André Alexis in his fiction both represents and …
Nationality: American. Born: Greenville, South Carolina, 1949. Education: Florida Presbyterian College (now Eckerd College), B.A. 1971; New School for Social Research, M.A. Awards: Lambda Literary awards, 1989 and 1999. Agent: Frances Goldin, 305 East Eleventh Street, New York, New York 10003, U.S.A. Dorothy Allison was born in 1949, to a teenage unwed mother in South Carolina. This fact is centr…
Nationality: American. Born: Lisa Reed in Kingsport, Tennessee, 1944. Education: Wellesley College, Massachusetts, 1962-66, B.A. 1966. Career: Editorial assistant, Atheneum Publishers, New York, 1966; staff writer, Garden Way Publishers, Charlotte, Vermont, 1969-72; visiting lecturer, St. Michael's College, Winooski, Vermont, 1980; book reviewer for newspapers and magazines. Lives in Hinesb…
Nationality: Nigerian. Born: Aluu, 1934. Education: University College, Ibadan, 1955-59, B.Sc. in mathematics and physics 1959. Military Service: Served in the Nigerian Federal Army, 1963-66, 1968-69. Career: Government survey assistant, Calabar, 1953-55, and surveyor, Enugu, 1959-60; science teacher in mission schools, Oba and Ahoada, 1960-63; principal, Asa Grammar School, 1967; administrative o…
Nationality: British. Born: Oxford, 1949; son of Kingsley Amis. Education: Exeter College, Oxford, B.A. (honors) in English 1971. Career: Editorial assistant, Times Literary Supplement, London, 1972-75; assistant literary editor, 1975-77, and literary editor, 1977-79, New Statesman, London. Since 1979 full-time writer. Lives in London. Awards: Maugham award, 1974. Agent: Andrew Wylie, New York, Ne…
Nationality: Indian. Born: Peshawar, 1905. Education: Khalsa College, Amritsar; Punjab University, 1921-24, B.A. (honours) 1924; University College, University of London, 1926-29, Ph.D.; Cambridge University, 1929-30; League of Nations School of Intellectual Cooperation, Geneva, 1930-32. Career: Lecturer, School of Intellectual Cooperation, Summer 1930, and Workers Educational Association, London,…
Nationality: American. Born: Pastura, New Mexico, 30 October 1937. Education: Albuquerque High School, graduated 1956; Browning Business School, Albuquerque, 1956-58; University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, B.A. in literature 1963, M.A. in literature 1968, M.A. in guidance and counseling 1972. Career: Teacher, Albuquerque public schools, 1963-70. Director of Counseling, 1971-73, associate professor…
Nationality: New Zealander. Born: Barbara Lillian Romaine, 1926. Education: Woodford House secondary school, 1939-43; University of Otago, Dunedin, 1944-46, B.A. 1946; Victoria University, Wellington, 1979-83, B.A. 1983. Career: Science teacher, Samuel Marsden Collegiate School, Wellington, 1947, Hastings Girls' High School, 1961, and Queen Margaret's College, Wellington, 1964-67; me…
Nationality: Australian. Born: Jessica Margaret Queale, Gayndah, Queensland, 1916. Education: State schools in Brisbane; Brisbane Technical College art school. Awards: Miles Franklin award, 1979, 1981; New South Wales Premier's award, 1981; The Age Book of the Year award, 1987. Lives in Sydney. Agent: Elaine Markson Literary Agency, 44 Greenwich Avenue, New York, New York 10011, USA. The se…
Nationality: Nigerian. Born: Nigeria in 1939. Education: Government College, Umuahia; University of California, Los Angeles, B.A., C. Phil., M.A. Military Service: Joined the Nigerian Army in 1959: attended cadet schools in Ghana and England; officer in the United Nations peace-keeping force in the Congo; at Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; fought on the Biafran side in…
Nationality: Trinidadian. Born: Mayaro, 1932. Education: Mayaro Roman Catholic School; Junior Technical College, San Fernando, Trinidad. Career: Lived in England, 1954-68; journalist, Reuters news agency, London, 1964-68; lived in Brazil, 1968-70; assistant editor, Texaco Trinidad, Pointe-à-Pierre, 1970-72. Since 1972 researcher, National Cultural Council (now Ministry of Culture), Port-of-Sp…
Nationality: Ghanaian. Born: Takoradi in 1938. Education: Achimota College, Accra; Groton School, Massachusetts; Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, A.B. in social studies; Columbia University, New York. Career: Translator, Révolution Africaine magazine, Algiers; scriptwriter for Ghana Television; English teacher, Navrongo School, Ghana, 1966; editor, Jeune Afrique magazine, Paris, …
Nationality: Canadian (Okanagan). Born: Penticton (Okanagan) Indian Reservation, British Columbia, Canada, 1948. Education: Okanagan College; University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, B.F.A. Career: Since 1989 director, En'owkin School of International Writing, Okanagan, British Columbia. Following in the footsteps of her great aunt, Hum-Ishu-Ma (Mourning Dove/Christine Quintasket, …
Nationality: Australian. Born: Thea Beatrice May Astley in Brisbane, Queensland, 1925. Education: The University of Queensland, Brisbane, 1943-47, B.A. 1947. Career: English teacher in Queensland, 1944-48, and in New South Wales, 1948-67; senior tutor, then fellow in English, Macquarie University, Sydney, 1968-85. Lives near Sydney. Awards: Commonwealth Literary Fund fellowship, 1961, 1964; Miles …
Nationality: Canadian. Born: Ottawa, Ontario, 1939. Education: Victoria College, University of Toronto, 1957-61, B.A. 1961; Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, A.M. 1962; Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1962-63, 1965-67. Career: Lecturer in English, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 1964-65; instructor in English, Sir George Williams University, Montreal, 1967-68; te…
Nationality: American. Born: Lawrence, New York, 27 September 1917. Education: Groton School, Massachusetts, graduated 1935; Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 1935-38; University of Virginia Law School, Charlottesville, LL.B. 1941; admitted to the New York bar, 1941. Military Service: Served in the United States Naval Reserve, 1941-45: Lieutenant. Career: Associate lawyer, Sullivan and Crom…
Nationality: American. Born: Newark, New Jersey, 3 February 1947. Education: Columbia University, New York, B.A. 1969, M.A. 1970. Career: Has had a variety of jobs, including merchant seaman, census taker, and tutor; creative writing teacher, Princeton University, New Jersey, 1986-90. Awards: Ingram Merrill Foundation grant, for poetry, 1975, 1982; PEN Translation Center grant, 1977; National Endo…
Nationality: Australian. Born: Adelaide, South Australia, 1941. Education: Norwood Technical High School, Adelaide. Career: Lived in India, 1968-70, and in England and Europe, 1970-74. Member of the Council, Australian National Gallery, Canberra, 1976-81. Awards: The Age Book of the Year award, 1980; National Book Council award, 1980; Victorian Premier's award, 1988. Murray Bail is, with P…
Nationality: British. Born: Peter Harry Bailey in Battersea, London, 1937. Education: Sir Walter St. John's School, London, 1948-53; Central School of Speech and Drama, London, 1953-56. Career: Actor, 1956-63. Literary Fellow, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and University of Durham, 1972-74; visiting lecturer, North Dakota State University, Fargo, 1977-79. Awards: Maugham award, 1968; Ar…
Nationality: British. Born: Liverpool, 1934. Education: Merchant Taylors' School, Liverpool; ballet school in Tring, Hertfordshire. Family: Married Austin Davies in 1954 (divorced 1959); one son and two daughters. Career: Actress with repertory theaters in Liverpool, Windsor, Salisbury, London, and Dundee, 1949-60; cellar woman in a bottle factory, London, 1970; clerk, Gerald Duckworth Ltd.…
Nationality: American. Born: Buffalo, New York, 15 December 1922. Education: Indiana University, Bloomington, B.S. 1944. Military Service: Served in the United States Army Infantry, 1943-46. Career: Writer for television programs U.S. Steel Hour and Robert Montgomery Show; script supervisor, Zero One series, BBC Television, London. Elliott Baker's first novels, A Fine Madness and The Penny…
Nationality: British. Born: Shanghai, China, 1930. Education: Leys School, Cambridge; King's College, Cambridge. Military Service: Served in the Royal Air Force. Awards: Guardian Fiction prize, 1984; James Tait Black Memorial prize, 1985. Agent: Margaret Hanbury, 27 Walcot Square, London SE11 4UB. I believe that science fiction is the authentic literature of the 20th century, the only fic…
Nationality: American. Born: Newton, Massachusetts, 29 March 1940. Education: Colgate University, Hamilton, New York, 1958; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1964-67, A.B. 1967 (Phi Beta Kappa). Career: Mannequin dresser, Montgomery Ward, Lakeland, Florida, 1960-61; plumber, New Hampshire, 1962-64; publisher and editor, Lillabulero Press, and co-editor, Lillabulero magazine, Chapel Hill, …
Nationality: Irish. Born: Wexford, 1945. Education: Christian Brothers School, and St. Peter's College, both Wexford. Career: Copy editor, Irish Press, Dublin, 1970-83. Since 1989 literary editor, Irish Times, Dublin. Awards: Allied Irish Banks prize, 1973; Arts Council of Ireland Macaulay fellowship, 1973; Irish-American Foundation award, 1976; James Tait Black Memorial prize, 1977; Guardi…
Nationality: Irish Born: Leland Hone, India, 1928. Education: Alexandra School, Dublin; London University, 1950s. Career: Various jobs, London and Paris, 1940s; playwright and writer for radio, Ireland, 1960s; poetry editor, Force 10 magazine, County Sligo, Ireland. Over the past four decades Leland Bardwell has been an important and popular presence in Irish writing. As a poet, dramatist, short …
Nationality: British. Born: St. Paul's Cray, Kent, 1918. Education: Schools in Beckenham, Kent, and Wallington, Surrey. Career: Worked for Amalgamated Press, London, 1936; reader, Cresset Press, London, 1947; secretary and sub-editor, BBC, London, 1949-78. Member of the Executive Committee, English PEN, 1981-85. Awards: Atlantic award, 1946; Maugham award, 1947; Cheltenham Festival award, 1…
Nationality: British. Born: Thornaby-on-Tees, England, 1943. Education: LSE, B.Sc.1965. Career: Has taught further education. Awards: Fawcett prize, for Union Street; Booker Prize, 1995, for The Ghost Road. Agent: Curtis Brown Associates, 162-168 Regent Street, London W1R 5TA, England. Union Street was Pat Barker's first novel, and at once marked her as a powerful voice in objective realism…