Imogen Hermes Gowar

Last updated
Imogen Hermes Gowar
OccupationWriter
LanguageEnglish
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom
Alma mater University of East Anglia
Genre Historical fiction
Notable worksThe Mermaid and Mrs Hancock (2018)
Notable awards Betty Trask Award (2018)
Website
www.imogenhermesgowar.co.uk

Imogen Hermes Gowar is a British author. She published her debut novel The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock , winning a Betty Trask Award in 2019; it became shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction.

Contents

Personal life and early career

Gowar's great-grandmother was the engraver and sculptor Gertrude Hermes. [1]

Gowar studied archaeology, anthropology and art history at the University of East Anglia. [2] She then worked in museums, including in Visitor Services at the British Museum, while writing short fiction inspired by the exhibits. [2] [1] She also worked as a barista in London prior to publishing her first book. [1]

Writing career

In 2013, Gowar won the Malcolm Bradbury Memorial Scholarship to study for a master's degree in creative writing at the University of East Anglia. [1] Her dissertation developed into her debut novel The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock. [1] The novel won a Betty Trask Award in 2019 and was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award in 2018. [3] [4] [5] It was also longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize in 2018. [6]

Gowar is currently writing her next book. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joanne Harris</span> English-French author (born 1964)

Joanne Michèle Sylvie Harris is an English-French author, best known for her 1999 novel Chocolat, which was adapted into a film of the same name.

The University of East Anglia's Creative Writing Course was founded by Sir Malcolm Bradbury and Sir Angus Wilson in 1970. The M.A. has been regarded among the most prestigious in the United Kingdom.

Susan Fletcher is a British novelist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maggie O'Farrell</span> Irish-British novelist (born 1972)

Maggie O'Farrell, RSL, is a novelist from Northern Ireland. Her acclaimed first novel, After You'd Gone, won the Betty Trask Award, and a later one, The Hand That First Held Mine, the 2010 Costa Novel Award. She has twice been shortlisted since for the Costa Novel Award for Instructions for a Heatwave in 2014 and This Must Be The Place in 2017. She appeared in the Waterstones 25 Authors for the Future. Her memoir I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death reached the top of the Sunday Times bestseller list. Her novel Hamnet won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2020, and the fiction prize at the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Awards. The Marriage Portrait was shortlisted for the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction.

Gwendoline Riley is an English writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eleanor Catton</span> New Zealand novelist and screenwriter

Eleanor Catton is a New Zealand novelist and screenwriter. Born in Canada, Catton moved to New Zealand as a child and grew up in Christchurch. She completed a master's degree in creative writing at the International Institute of Modern Letters. Her award-winning debut novel, The Rehearsal, written as her Master's thesis, was published in 2008, and has been adapted into a 2016 film of the same name. Her second novel, The Luminaries, won the 2013 Booker Prize, making Catton the youngest author ever to win the prize and only the second New Zealander. It was subsequently adapted into a television miniseries, with Catton as screenwriter. In 2023, she was named on the Granta Best of Young British Novelists list.

Francis Spufford FRSL is an English author and teacher of writing whose career has seen him shift gradually from non-fiction to fiction. His first novel Golden Hill received critical acclaim and numerous prizes including the Costa Book Award for a first novel, the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Ondaatje Prize. In 2007 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samantha Harvey (author)</span> English writer

Samantha Harvey is an English novelist. She is the author of several critically acclaimed novels and has been shortlisted for various literary prizes.

Evelyn Rose Strange "Evie" Wyld is an Anglo-Australian author. Her first novel, After the Fire, A Still Small Voice, won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 2009, and her second novel, All the Birds, Singing, won the Encore Award in 2013 and the Miles Franklin Award in 2014. Her third novel, The Bass Rock, won the Stella Prize in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grace McCleen</span> British novelist

Grace McCleen is a British novelist. She has won the Desmond Elliott Prize, Betty Trask Award and the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize.

Susan Elderkin is an English author of two critically acclaimed novels, her first, Sunset Over Chocolate Mountains won a Betty Trask Prize and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, her second, The Voices was shortlisted for the Ondaatje Prize and longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. She was one of Granta Magazine's 20 Best Young British Novelists in 2003 and won the 2007 Society of Authors Travel Award. She is the author, with Ella Berthoud, of The Novel Cure: An A-Z of Literary Remedies and The Story Cure: Books to Keep Kids Happy, Healthy and Wise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diana Evans</span> British novelist, journalist and critic (born 1972)

Diana Omo Evans FRSL is a British novelist, journalist and critic who was born and lives in London. Evans has written four full-length novels. Her first novel, 26a, published in 2005, won the Orange Award for New Writers, the Betty Trask Award and the deciBel Writer of the Year award. Her third novel Ordinary People was shortlisted for the 2019 Women's Prize for Fiction and won the 2019 South Bank Sky Arts Award for Literature. A House for Alice was published in 2023.

Anjali Joseph is an Indian novelist. Her first novel, Saraswati Park (2010), earned her several awards, including the Betty Trask Prize and Desmond Elliott Prize. Her second novel, Another Country, was released in 2012. In 2010, she was listed by The Telegraph as one of the 20 best writers under the age of 40. Her third novel, The Living (2016), was shortlisted for the DSC Prize and is a tender, lyrical and often funny novel which shines a light on everyday life. Her fourth novel, Keeping in Touch, was published in India in 2021 by Context and in the UK in 2022 by Scribe.

Sam Byers is a British novelist. He was born in Bury St Edmunds and now lives in Norwich, where he studied at the University of East Anglia.

Emma Constance Healey is a British novelist. Her debut novel, Elizabeth is Missing (2014) won the annual Costa Book Award, Best First Novel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chibundu Onuzo</span> Nigerian novelist (born 1991)

Imachibundu Oluwadara Onuzo is a Nigerian novelist. Her first novel, The Spider King's Daughter, won a Betty Trask Award, was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Commonwealth Book Prize, and was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Etisalat Prize for Literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rowan Hisayo Buchanan</span> British-American writer (born 1989)

Rowan Hisayo Buchanan FRSL is a British American writer. Her novels include Harmless Like You, which received a Betty Trask Award and the 2017 Author's Club Best First Novel Award, and Starling Days. She is the editor of Go Home!, an anthology of stories by Asian American writers. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irenosen Okojie</span> Nigerian writer

Irenosen Iseghohi Okojie FRSL is a Nigerian-born short story and novel writer working in London. Her stories incorporate speculative elements and also make use of her West African heritage. Her first novel, Butterfly Fish won a Betty Trask Award in 2016, and her story "Grace Jones" won the 2020 Caine Prize for African Writing. She was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2018.

David Whitehouse is a British writer. Whitehouse is known for his novels Bed (2011), Mobile Library (2015), and The Long Forgotten (2018). He also wrote the non-fiction book About a Son: A Murder and a Father's Search for Truth (2022).

Priscilla Morris is a British author and lecturer whose debut novel, Black Butterflies, was shortlisted for a number of awards including the Women's Prize for Fiction.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Brown, Helen (2018-01-24). "Imogen Hermes Gowar on mermaids, mummies and writing this year's must-read historical novel". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 2024-04-11.
  2. 1 2 "The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock review: Historical fiction at its finest". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
  3. "Betty Trask Prize - The Society of Authors". 2020-05-08. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
  4. Flood, Alison (2018-04-23). "Women's prize for fiction shortlist favours new voices over big hitters". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2024-04-11.
  5. team, Code8; Pickard, Maddy (2018-11-23). "Imogen Hermes Gowar, shortlisted 2018". Young Writer of the Year Award. Retrieved 2024-04-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. 1 2 locusmag (2018-03-23). "2018 Desmond Elliott Prize Longlist". Locus Online. Retrieved 2024-04-11.