Patrick French
Encyclopedia
Patrick French is a British
writer and historian
, based in London
. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh
where he studied English
and American literature
.
French is the author of several books including : Younghusband: The Last Great Imperial Adventurer (1994), a biography of Francis Younghusband
, The World Is What It Is
(2008), an authorized biography of Nobel
Laureate V.S Naipaul which won the National Book Critics Circle Award
in the United States of America., and India: A Portrait. An intimate biography of 1.2 billion people.(2010)
During the 1992 general election, French was a Green Party
candidate for Parliament
. He has sat on the executive committee of the Tibet Support Group UK, and was a founding member of the inter-governmental India
-UK Round Table.
to retrace the steps of British
explorer Francis Younghusband
. This resulted in the publication of his first book, Younghusband: The Last Great Imperial Adventurer in 1994. The book went on to win both the Somerset Maugham Award
and the Royal Society of Literature
’s W.H. Heinemann Prize.
French’s next book, Liberty or Death – India’s Journey to Independence and Division was published in 1997 and earned the author accolades and brickbats in equal parts. Described in the Indian media as presenting a “revisionist view” of Mahatma Gandhi
and Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s role in the Indian Independence movement
, there were a few calls to ban the book in India
. On the other hand, Philip Ziegler
hailed it as “a remarkable achievement,” and Khushwant Singh described the author as “a first rate historian and storyteller.” The book sold heavily due to the controversy and French was awarded the London Sunday Times Young Author of the Year award for the book.
Published in 2003, Tibet, Tibet: A Personal History Of A Lost Land was French’s third book. According to the author’s own accounts, his interest in Tibet
was triggered by a meeting he had with the Dalai Lama
when he was 16. The book though emerged out of “a gradual nervousness that the western idea of Tibet, particularly the views of Tibet campaigners, was becoming too detached from the reality of what Tibet was like. So I did a long journey through Tibet in 1999.” The Independent
described the book as “intelligent as well as passionate in its approach.” Pico Iyer
in The Los Angeles Times book review described French as a "scrupulous and disciplined writer" who "has a decided gift for inspired and heartfelt research and a knack for coming upon overlooked details that are worth several volumes of analysis."
The World Is What It Is
, an authorized biography of Nobel
prize winning author V.S Naipaul was published in 2008. In the New York Review of Books, Ian Buruma
conferred French as the inventor of a new genre, “the confessional biography.” The book was selected by the editors of The New York Times Book Review
as one of the “10 Best books of 2008.” In 2008, The World Is What It Is
was awarded the National Book Critics Circle Award
in America, and was also short listed for the Samuel Johnson
Prize. French was also awarded the Hawthornden Prize
in 2009 for the book.
In 2010, Patrick released his book 'India: A Portrait'. He calls it 'an intimate biography of 1.2 billion people'. The book is a narrative of the social and economic revolutions that are transforming India. As part of the book release, he has also started an India focused website called The India Site.
in the UK, and the daughter of author and publisher Namita Gokhale
. This is his second marriage.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
writer and historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, based in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
where he studied English
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
and American literature
American literature
American literature is the written or literary work produced in the area of the United States and its preceding colonies. For more specific discussions of poetry and theater, see Poetry of the United States and Theater in the United States. During its early history, America was a series of British...
.
French is the author of several books including : Younghusband: The Last Great Imperial Adventurer (1994), a biography of Francis Younghusband
Francis Younghusband
Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Edward Younghusband, KCSI, KCIE was a British Army officer, explorer, and spiritual writer...
, The World Is What It Is
The World Is What It Is
The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V. S. Naipaul is a biography of the Nobel Prize-winning author V. S. Naipaul by Patrick French.The biography has been extensively reviewed. including by his former acolyte Paul Theroux....
(2008), an authorized biography of Nobel
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
Laureate V.S Naipaul which won the National Book Critics Circle Award
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Award is an annual award given by the National Book Critics Circle to promote the finest books and reviews published in English....
in the United States of America., and India: A Portrait. An intimate biography of 1.2 billion people.(2010)
During the 1992 general election, French was a Green Party
Green Party of England and Wales
The Green Party of England and Wales is a political party in England and Wales which follows the traditions of Green politics and maintains a strong commitment to social progressivism. It is the largest Green party in the United Kingdom, containing within it various regional divisions including...
candidate for Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
. He has sat on the executive committee of the Tibet Support Group UK, and was a founding member of the inter-governmental India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
-UK Round Table.
Books and Awards
At the age of 25, French set off on a trail across Central AsiaCentral Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
to retrace the steps of British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
explorer Francis Younghusband
Francis Younghusband
Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Edward Younghusband, KCSI, KCIE was a British Army officer, explorer, and spiritual writer...
. This resulted in the publication of his first book, Younghusband: The Last Great Imperial Adventurer in 1994. The book went on to win both the Somerset Maugham Award
Somerset Maugham Award
The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each May by the Society of Authors. It is awarded to whom they judge to be the best writer or writers under the age of thirty-five of a book published in the past year. The prize was instituted in 1947 by William Somerset Maugham and thus...
and 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...
’s W.H. Heinemann Prize.
French’s next book, Liberty or Death – India’s Journey to Independence and Division was published in 1997 and earned the author accolades and brickbats in equal parts. Described in the Indian media as presenting a “revisionist view” of Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
and Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s role in the Indian Independence movement
Indian independence movement
The term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide area of political organisations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending first British East India Company rule, and then British imperial authority, in parts of South Asia...
, there were a few calls to ban the book in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. On the other hand, Philip Ziegler
Philip Ziegler
-Background:Born in Ringwood, Ziegler was educated at St Cyprian's School, Eastbourne, and went with the school when it merged with Summer Fields School, Oxford. He was afterwards at Eton College and New College, Oxford...
hailed it as “a remarkable achievement,” and Khushwant Singh described the author as “a first rate historian and storyteller.” The book sold heavily due to the controversy and French was awarded the London Sunday Times Young Author of the Year award for the book.
Published in 2003, Tibet, Tibet: A Personal History Of A Lost Land was French’s third book. According to the author’s own accounts, his interest in Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
was triggered by a meeting he had with the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
when he was 16. The book though emerged out of “a gradual nervousness that the western idea of Tibet, particularly the views of Tibet campaigners, was becoming too detached from the reality of what Tibet was like. So I did a long journey through Tibet in 1999.” The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
described the book as “intelligent as well as passionate in its approach.” Pico Iyer
Pico Iyer
Pico Iyer is a British-born essayist and novelist. He is the author of numerous books on travel including Video Night in Kathmandu. His shorter pieces regularly appear in Time, Harper's, NYRB and many other publications.-Life and career:...
in The Los Angeles Times book review described French as a "scrupulous and disciplined writer" who "has a decided gift for inspired and heartfelt research and a knack for coming upon overlooked details that are worth several volumes of analysis."
The World Is What It Is
The World Is What It Is
The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V. S. Naipaul is a biography of the Nobel Prize-winning author V. S. Naipaul by Patrick French.The biography has been extensively reviewed. including by his former acolyte Paul Theroux....
, an authorized biography of Nobel
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
prize winning author V.S Naipaul was published in 2008. In the New York Review of Books, Ian Buruma
Ian Buruma
Buruma is a nephew of the English film director John Schlesinger, a series of interviews with whom he published in book form.-Works:*The Japanese Tattoo with Donald Richie ISBN 978-0-8348-0228-5...
conferred French as the inventor of a new genre, “the confessional biography.” The book was selected by the editors of The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to The New York Times in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely read book review publications in the industry. The offices are located near Times Square in New York...
as one of the “10 Best books of 2008.” In 2008, The World Is What It Is
The World Is What It Is
The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V. S. Naipaul is a biography of the Nobel Prize-winning author V. S. Naipaul by Patrick French.The biography has been extensively reviewed. including by his former acolyte Paul Theroux....
was awarded the National Book Critics Circle Award
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Award is an annual award given by the National Book Critics Circle to promote the finest books and reviews published in English....
in America, and was also short listed for the Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
Prize. French was also awarded the 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...
in 2009 for the book.
In 2010, Patrick released his book 'India: A Portrait'. He calls it 'an intimate biography of 1.2 billion people'. The book is a narrative of the social and economic revolutions that are transforming India. As part of the book release, he has also started an India focused website called The India Site.
Personal Life
He is married to Meru Gokhale, currently an Editor at Penguin GroupPenguin Group
The Penguin Group is a trade book publisher, the largest in the world , having overtaken Random House in 2009. The Penguin Group is the name of the incorporated division of parent Pearson PLC that oversees these publishing operations...
in the UK, and the daughter of author and publisher Namita Gokhale
Namita Gokhale
-Early life:She was born in Lucknow, India in 1956 and spent her childhood between New Delhi and Nainital, in the foothills of the Himalayas. A Kumaoni by birth She married to Rajiv Gokhale when she was eighteen. Gokhale dropped out of college after a conflict over the bias against Indian...
. This is his second marriage.
External links
- Transcript of interview recorded at Edinburgh International Book Festival on the August 2008 with Ramona KovalRamona KovalRamona Koval is an Australian broadcaster, writer and journalist.Her parents were Yiddish-speaking survivors of the Holocaust who arrived in Melbourne from Poland in 1950....
, The Book ShowThe Book ShowThe Book Show is an Australian ABC radio program for the discussion of everything relating to the written word. It is broadcast live around Australia on Radio National with a daily weekday morning show which is then replayed nightly and also has a Sunday evening show. The show is hosted by Ramona...
, ABC Radio National, 11 September 2008. - "V. S. Naipaul, a Man Who Has Earned a Knighthood, a Nobel and Enemies Galore,", New York Times, 19 November 2008, C1. – review of the Naipaul biography.
- He May Be a God, but He’s No Politician, Op-Ed New York Times, 22 March 2008
- Bhutan's Dragon King by Patrick French, Vanity Fair, April 13, 2009.
- Podcast of Patrick French speaking at the 2008 Samuel Johnson Prize short-listed author event in London about his biography of V.S. Naipaul.
- Lunch with BS: Patrick French The Business Standard. May 27, 2008.
- Naipaul's Darkness: Patrick French's The World Is What It Is The Nation, November 19, 2008.
- Touting Religion, Grabbing Land Op-Ed by Patrick French, The New York Times, March 16, 2009.
- They Hate Us - and India Is Us Op-Ed, The New York Times, December 8, 2008.
- The India Site - Official site for Patrick French's book, India: A Portrait