Nationality: American. Born: Medford, Massachusetts, 1939; brother of Paul Theroux, q.v. Education: St. Joseph's Seminary, 1960-62; St. Francis College, Biddeford, Maine, B.A. 1964; University of Virginia, Charlottesville (Woodrow Wilson fellow), M.A. 1965, Ph.D. 1968; Brasenose College, Oxford. Career: Instructor, University of Virginia, 1968; Fulbright lecturer, University of London, 196…
Nationality: American. Born: Medford, Massachusetts, 1941; brother of Alexander Theroux, q.v. Education: Medford High School; University of Maine, Orono, 1959-60; University of Massachusetts, Amherst, B.A. in English 1963. Career: Lecturer, University of Urbino, Italy, 1963; Peace Corps lecturer, Soche Hill College, Limbe, Malawi, 1963-65; lecturer, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, 1965-68, a…
Nationality: Canadian citizen. Born: Audrey Callahan in Binghamton, New York, 1935. Moved to Canada, 1959; lived in Kumasi, Ghana, 1964-66. Education: Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, B.A. 1957; University of British Columbia, Vancouver, M.A. in English 1963. Career: Since 1990 visiting professor, Concordia University, Montreal. Scottish-Canadian Exchange Fellow, Edinburgh, 1985-86; writ…
Nationality: British. Born: Redruth, Cornwall, 1935. Education: Redruth Grammar School; University High School, Melbourne; New College, Oxford, B.A. (honours) in English 1958, M.A. 1961. Military Service: Served in the British Army (national service), 1953-54. Career: Teacher, Teignmouth Grammar School, Devon, 1959-63; senior lecturer in English, Hereford College of Education, 1964-78, visiting le…
Nationality: American. Born: Pomona, California, 1937. Education: University of California, Santa Barbara, B.A. 1960, M.A. 1967, Ph.D. 1973. Career: Assistant professor of English, Montana State University, Bozeman, 1974-79, associate professor of English, 1980-84; visiting associate professor at University of California, Los Angeles, and University of California, Santa Barbara, 1984-88; writer in…
Nationality: British. Born: London, 1939. Education: Eton College, Berkshire, 1953-57. Career: Editorial assistant, Hutchinson, publishers, London, 1959-62; production editor, Macmillan, publishers, New York, 1964-65; since 1965 freelance documentary filmmaker and writer. Awards: PEN award, 1985; Thomas Cook award, for travel book, 1988; Hawthornden prize, 1989. Agent: Gillon Aitken and Stone, 29 …
Nationality: British. Born: London, 1938. Education: Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, B.A. (honours) in English, M.A. 1959. Career: Freelance journalist since 1960. Awards: Mary Elgin prize, 1970; Maugham award, 1972. Agent: Curtis Brown, 28-29 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4SP, England. Gillian Tindall's first novel, No Name in the Street, was published soon after she graduated from Oxford, and its he…
Nationality: British. Born: Liverpool, 1936. Education: Sale County Grammar School, 1947-54; University of Manchester, 1954-57, B.A. 1957. Career: Insurance clerk, Vienna, 1957; journalist, Sheffield Star, 1958-63, Thomson newspapers, London, 1964-65, Cardiff Western Mail, 1966-69, and Liverpool Echo, 1967. Awards: Authors Club award, 1969; Winifred Holtby prize, 1974; Welsh Arts Council bursary, …
Nationality: South African. Born: Doornfontein, Transvaal. Education: University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Career: Co-founder, Staffrider magazine; board member, Skotaville Press. Miriam Tlali was brought up in Sophiatown, that legendary community within Johannesburg which was razed because it was the sole area where Africans were permitted to take permanent title to land. She successfu…
Nationality: Irish. Born: Ireland, 1955. Career: Journalist and columnist for the Dublin Sunday Independent, beginning in 1985; essayist for Esquire (London), and London Review of Books. Awards: Irish Times—Aer Lingus International Fiction Prize, 1991; Encore Prize for best second novel published in Britain, 1992; E. M. Forster Award (American Academy of Arts and Letters), 1995. Agent: c/o …
Nationality: British (emigrated from South Africa, 1963; granted British citizenship, 1968). Born: Barbara Schuddeboom, Capetown, South Africa, 1941. Education: University of Natal, South Africa, B.A. 1963; University of London, diploma in education, 1967. Career: English teacher, Greenwich Park School, London, 1964-67, and Sunderland College of Further Education, 1967-70. Since 1970, full-time wr…
Nationality: British. Born: Rose Thomson in London, 1943. Education: Frances Holland School, 1949-54; Crofton Grange School, 1954-60; the Sorbonne, Paris, 1960-61, diploma in literature 1962; University of East Anglia, Norwich, 1964-67, B.A. (honors) in English 1967. Career: Teacher, Lynhurst House School, London, 1968-70; assistant editor, British Printing Corporation, London, 1970-72; part-time …
Nationality: Irish. Born: Mitchelstown, County Cork, 1928. Education: St. Columba's College, Dublin, 1942-46; Trinity College, Dublin, B.A. 1950. Career: History teacher, Armagh, Northern Ireland, 1951-53; art teacher, Rugby, England, 1953-55; sculptor in Somerset, 1955-60; advertising copywriter, Notley's, London, 1960-64. Lives in Devon, England. Awards: Transatlantic Review prize,…
Also writes as Caroline Harvey. Nationality: English. Born: England, 1943. Education: Oxford University, M.A. 1965. Career: Associated with Foreign Office, London, 1965-67; worked as an English teacher for twelve years and in the children's clothing business. Lives in Hampshire, England. Awards: Historical Novel of the Year Award (Romantic Novelists Association), 1979; Elizabeth Goudge Hist…
Nationality: British. Born: John Francis Tuohy in Uckfield, Sussex, 1925. Education: Stowe School, Buckinghamshire; King's College, Cambridge, 1943-46, B.A. (honours) 1946. Career: Lecturer, Turku University, Finland, 1947-48; professor of English language and literature, University of São Paulo, Brazil, 1950-56; contract professor, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland, 1958-60; vis…
Nationality: American. Born: Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1941. Education: Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 1958-61, B.A. 1961; Columbia University, New York, 1961-62. Career: Russian bibliographer, Duke University Library, 1962-63; assistant to the librarian, McGill University Law Library, Montreal, 1964-65. Awards: American Academy award, 1977; Janet Kafka prize, 1981; PEN Faulkner award, 198…
Nationality: British. Born: Durham, England, 1930. Education: University of Manchester, B.A. (with honors in English) 1951. Military Service: British Army, Royal Corps of Signals, 1951-53: second lieutenant. Career: Lecturer in English, Norwood Technical College, 1960 and 1963-65; lecturer in English for British Council, University of Athens, Greece, 1960-63. Since 1965 lecturer in English for Bri…
Nationality: American. Born in Shillington, Pennsylvania, 18 March 1932. Educated at public schools in Shillington; Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, A.B. (summa cum laude) 1954; Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Arts, Oxford (Knox fellow), 1954-55.Married 1) Mary Pennington in 1953 (marriage dissolved), two daughters and two sons; 2) Martha Bernhard in 1977. Career: staff reporter, Ne…
Nationality: British. Born: Romford, Essex, 1903. Education: Repton School, Derby, 1917-21; Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (Chancellors's medal for English verse), 1922-24, M.A. 1925. Career: Schoolmaster, 1928-62; Member of the Editorial Board, the Ploughshare, London, 1936-39. Lives in Sandown, Isle of Wight. Edward Upward as a young writer in the 1930s achieved a great reputation, wa…
Nationality: Canadian. Born: Esterhazy, Saskatchewan, 1951. Education: University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, B.A. 1972, M.A. 1975; University of Regina, B.Ed. 1978. Career: Archivist, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, 1973-75; Editor, Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, Regina, Saskatchewan, 1976-78; high school English and history teacher, Herbert, Saskatchewan, 1978-79; Researcher, Access …
Nationality: British. Born: Bedford, 1920. Education: Marlborough House School; Haileybury College, Hertford; Worcester College, Oxford (major scholar in modern history). Career: Director, Burgess School, London, 1947-59; formerly, publisher, Park Editions, London. Awards: Society of Authors travelling scholarship, 1969; Arts Council bursary, 1981, 1984. Fellow, Royal Society of Literature, 1985. …
Nationality: Canadian (originally Kenyan, emigrated to United State, 1970; emigrated to Canada, 1978). Born: Nairobi, Kenya, 1950. Education: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, B.S. 1974; University of Pennsylvania, Ph.D. 1978. Family: Married Nurjehan Aziz; one child. Career: Affiliated with Atomic Energy of Canada at Chalk River power station, 1978-80; research associate and lecturer in phy…
Pseudonym: Edgar Box. Nationality: American. Born: Eugene Luther Gore Vidal, Jr. in West Point, New York, 1925. Education: Los Alamos School, New Mexico, 1939-40; Phillips Exeter Academy, New Hampshire, 1940-43. Military Service: Served in the United States Army, 1943-46: Warrant Officer. Career: Editor, E.P. Dutton, publishers, New York, 1946. Lived in Antigua, Guatemala, 1947-49, and Italy, 1967…
Nationality: American. Born: East Los Angeles, 1954. Education: Immaculate Heart College, B.A., 1975; attended University of California at Irvine. Career: Teaches at Cornell University. Awards: Statement Magazine first prize for fiction (California State University), 1977, 1978; first prize for fiction (University of California at Irvine Chicano Literary Contest), 1979. Agent: c/o Dutton/Signet, 3…
Nationality: New Zealander. Born: 1947. Career: Formerly a zookeeper. Since 1987 a writer. A latecomer to novel writing, Noel Virtue has made a small but definite name for himself in contemporary New Zealand fiction. He has been in residence in the United Kingdom for much of his career, but returned to New Zealand in 1995 to launch his autobiography, Once a Brethren Boy, at New Zealand's f…
Nationality: American. Born: Santa Monica, California, 1959. Education: Attended Deep Springs College, 1977-79; Cornell University, B.A. 1981; graduate study at University of California, Berkeley, 1982-83. Career: Founder, CoTangent Press; writer. Awards: Ludwig Vogelstein award, 1987; Whiting Writers' award, 1988; Shiva Naipaul Memorial prize, 1989; PEN Center USA West Literary award, 1997…
Nationality: American. Born: Indianapolis, Indiana, 1922. Education: Shortridge High School, Indianapolis, 1936-40; Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 1940-42; Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, 1943; University of Chicago, 1945-47. Military Service: Served in the United States Army Infantry, 1942-45: Purple Heart. Career: Police reporter, Chicago City News Bureau, 1946; worked in public relations…
Nationality: American. Born: Massillon, Ohio, 1926. Education: Pennsylvania State University, University Park, B.A. 1947; Indiana University, Bloomington, M.A. in English 1949. Military Service: Served in the United States Navy, 1944-46. Career: Instructor, DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana, 1949-50, and Pennsylvania State University, 1950-53; assistant professor, 1954-57, associate professo…
Nationality: American. Born: Indianapolis, Indiana, 1932. Education: Shortridge High School, Indianapolis, graduated 1950; Indiana University, Bloomington, 1950-51; Columbia University, New York, 1951-55, B.A. (honors) in English 1955. Career: News editor, Princeton Packet, New Jersey, 1955; research assistant to C. Wright Mills, Columbia University, 1955; staff writer, the Nation, New York, 1956-…
Nationality: American. Born: Eatonton, Georgia, 1944. Education: Spelman College, Atlanta, 1961-63; Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York, 1963-65, B.A. 1965. Career: Voter registration and Head Start program worker, Mississippi, and with New York City Department of Welfare, mid-1960s; teacher, Jackson State College, 1968-69, and Tougaloo College, 1970-71, both Mississippi; lecturer, Welles…
Nationality: American. Born: Ithaca, New York, 1962. Education: Amherst College, A.B. 1985; University of Arizona, M.F.A. 1987. Career: Associate professor of English, 1993—. Awards: Whiting Writers' Award (Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation), 1987; John Traine Humor Prize (Paris Review), 1988; Illinois Arts Council Award for Non-Fiction, 1989; Quality Paperback Book Club's New Voi…
Nationality: British. Born: London, 1946. Education: Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, B.A. in modern languages 1963, M.A. 1964. Career: Getty Scholar, 1987-88; Tinbergen Professor, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 1991. Visiting professor, University of Ulster, 1994-95; Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London, 1994. Awards: PEN award, 1988; Commonwealth Writers prize, 1989…
Nationality: British. Born: Leeds, Yorkshire, 1929. Education: Osmondthorpe Council Schools, Leeds. Military Service: Served in the Royal Air Force. Career: Since 1950 freelance journalist and writer in Leeds and London; columnist, Daily Mirror, 1970-86, and Daily Mail since 1986, both London. Awards: (for journalism): Granada award, 1970, and special award, 1982; IPC award, 1970, 1973; British Pr…
Nationality: Canadian. Born: London, England, 1926; became Canadian citizen in 1963. Education: Coopers' Company School, London, 1937-43; King's College, University of London, 1945-49, degree in theology. Military Service: Served in the Royal Navy, 1944-45. Career: Reporter, Cornish Guardian, Bodmin, Cornwall, 1943-44; editor, Holy Cross Press, New York, 1953-54; talks producer, BBC …
Nationality: American. Born: Browning, Montana, in 1940. Education: The University of Montana, Missoula, B.A.; Northern Montana College, Harve. Awards: National Endowment for the Arts grant, 1969; Los Angeles Times prize, for Fools Crow, 1987. James Welch has described himself as both an "Indian writer" and "an Indian who writes." This double vision of American Indian …