Claire Tomalin
Encyclopedia
Claire Tomalin is an English
biographer and journalist
. She was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge
.
She was literary editor of the New Statesman
and of the Sunday Times
, and has written several noted biographies. Her work has been recognised with the award of the 1990 James Tait Black Memorial Prize
and the 1991 Hawthornden Prize
for The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens. Her biography of Samuel Pepys
won the Whitbread Book Award in 2002, the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize
in 2003, the Latham Prize of the Samuel Pepys Club in 2003, and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize
in 2003.
Claire Tomalin is Vice-President of the Royal Society of Literature
and of the English PEN (International PEN
).
Tomalin's first husband Nicholas Tomalin
, a prominent journalist, was killed in the Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War
in 1973; she is now married to the novelist and playwright Michael Frayn
.
Wikipedia
article in The Guardian
on 24 October 2005, awarding the page a score of 6/10. On the 4 April 2009, Tomalin wrote to The Guardian and expressed facts on Thomas Hardy
's life. The letter was titled "A Poet to the End".
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
biographer and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
. She was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge
Newnham College, Cambridge
Newnham College is a women-only constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1871 by Henry Sidgwick, and was the second Cambridge college to admit women after Girton College...
.
She was literary editor of the New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
and of the Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
, and has written several noted biographies. Her work has been recognised with the award of the 1990 James Tait Black Memorial Prize
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
Founded in 1919, the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are among the oldest and most prestigious book prizes awarded for literature written in the English language and are Britain's oldest literary awards...
and the 1991 Hawthornden Prize
Hawthornden Prize
The Hawthornden Prize is a British literary award that was established in 1919 by Alice Warrender. Authors are awarded on the quality of their "imaginative literature" which can be written in either poetry or prose...
for The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens. Her biography of Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
won the Whitbread Book Award in 2002, the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize
Rose Mary Crawshay Prize
The Rose Mary Crawshay Prize is a literary prize for female scholars. It was inaugurated in 1888 and is stated by the British Academy to be the only UK literary prize for female scholars...
in 2003, the Latham Prize of the Samuel Pepys Club in 2003, and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize
Samuel Johnson Prize
The Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction is one of the most prestigious prizes for non-fiction writing. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award and based on an anonymous donation. The prize is named after Samuel Johnson...
in 2003.
Claire Tomalin is Vice-President of the Royal Society of Literature
Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...
and of the English PEN (International PEN
International PEN
PEN International , the worldwide association of writers, was founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere....
).
Tomalin's first husband Nicholas Tomalin
Nicholas Tomalin
Nicholas Osborne Tomalin was an English journalist and writer.Tomalin was the son of Miles Tomalin, a Communist poet and veteran of the Spanish Civil War. He studied English literature at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. As a student he was President of the Cambridge Union and editor of the prestigious...
, a prominent journalist, was killed in the Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
in 1973; she is now married to the novelist and playwright Michael Frayn
Michael Frayn
Michael J. Frayn is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce Noises Off and the dramas Copenhagen and Democracy...
.
Awards and honors
- 2011 Costa Book Awards2011 Costa Book AwardsThe shortlists were announced on 16 November 2011. The winners in each category will be announced in January 2012.-Children's Book:Winner:*TBDShortlist:*Martyn Bedford, Flip*Frank Cottrell Boyce, The Unforgotten Coat...
(Biography), shortlist, Charles Dickens: A Life
Selected works
- Charles Dickens: A Life
- Thomas Hardy: The Time-Torn Man, 2007, ISBN 978-1594201189
- Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self, (New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2002), ISBN 0-670-88568-1 or ISBN 0-14-028234-3
- Jane Austen: A Life, 2000, ISBN 0-14-029690-5
- Several Strangers; writing from three decades, 1999, Viking, London.
- Katherine Mansfield: A Secret Life, (London, Viking, 1987)1998, ISBN 0-14-011715-6
- Mrs. Jordan's Profession: The Story of a Great Actress and a Future King, 1995, ISBN 0-14-015923-1
- Shelley and His World, 1992, ISBN 978-0140171525
- The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens, (New York, Knopf, 1991), ISBN 0-14-012136-
- The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft (London, Weidenfeld & Nicolsen, 1974), 1992, ISBN 0-14-016761-7
Further reading
- 'Aida Edemariam meets Claire Tomalin' The Guardian 18 November 2006
- 'Claire Tomalin: a Life in Words' BBC World News, Entertainment, 29 Jan 2003
- Claire Tomalin at www.contemporarywriters
Trivia
She made a number of tongue-in-cheek criticisms against the Samuel PepysSamuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
article in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
on 24 October 2005, awarding the page a score of 6/10. On the 4 April 2009, Tomalin wrote to The Guardian and expressed facts on Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
's life. The letter was titled "A Poet to the End".