Lindsay Clarke

Last updated

Lindsay Clarke, 2018 Lindsay-Clarke-2018.jpg
Lindsay Clarke, 2018

Lindsay Clarke (born 1939, Halifax, West Riding of Yorkshire) is a British novelist. He was educated at Heath Grammar School in Halifax and at King's College, Cambridge. [1] The landscape of hills, moors and crags around Halifax informed the growth of his imagination, while King's refined his sensibility and sharpened his intellect.

Contents

His debut novel, Sunday Whiteman, was shortlisted for the David Higham First Novel Award, [2] and his second novel The Chymical Wedding , partly inspired by the life of Mary Anne Atwood, [3] won the Whitbread Prize in 1989. [4] Clarke's most recent novel is The Water Theatre (published in September 2010 by Alma Books). In her review of the novel in The Times Antonia Senior said "There is nothing small about this book. It is huge in scope, in energy, in heart...It is difficult to remember a recent book that is at once so beautiful and yet so thought provoking." [5] The Water Theatre was selected as a winner of the inaugural Fiction Uncovered competition [6] in 2011 and was included among The Times's Books of the Year. In 2012 The Water Theatre was chosen as the inaugural e-book publication of The New York Review of Books under their NYRB Lit imprint. [7]

Before becoming a writer, Lindsay's career in education took him to Akim-Oda, Ghana, where he worked as Senior Master of a co-educational boarding school. He has also worked in the United States. [8] He lectures in creative writing at Cardiff University, [9] is a Creative Consultant to The Pushkin Trust in Northern Ireland, and teaches writing workshops in Frome, London and at the Arvon Foundation. He has had four radio plays broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and a number of his articles and reviews have been published in Resurgence [10] and The London Magazine. Lindsay has one daughter from his first marriage. In 2014 he was awarded a Civil List Pension "in recognition of services to literature." [11]

Clarke passionately believes in the power of the creative imagination [12] and writes about imagination, consciousness and mythology in his blog.

Publications

Troy Quartet

  1. A Prince of Troy (2019) ISBN   0-00-837104-0
  2. The War at Troy (2004), ISBN   0-00-715026-1
  3. The Spoils of Troy (2019) ISBN   0-00-837108-3
  4. The Return from Troy (2005), ISBN   0-00-715027-X

Novels

Poetry

Non-fiction

Anthologies edited

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iain Banks</span> Scottish writer (1954–2013)

Iain Banks was a Scottish author, writing mainstream fiction as Iain Banks and science fiction as Iain M. Banks, adding the initial of his adopted middle name Menzies. After the success of The Wasp Factory (1984), he began to write full time. His first science fiction book, Consider Phlebas, appeared in 1987, marking the start of the Culture series. His books have been adapted for theatre, radio, and television. In 2008, The Times named Banks in their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken MacLeod</span> Scottish science fiction writer

Kenneth Macrae MacLeod is a Scottish science fiction writer. His novels The Sky Road and The Night Sessions won the BSFA Award. MacLeod's novels have been nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke, Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Campbell Memorial awards for best novel on multiple occasions. A techno-utopianist, MacLeod's work makes frequent use of libertarian socialist themes; he is a three-time winner of the libertarian Prometheus Award. Prior to becoming a novelist, MacLeod studied biology and worked as a computer programmer. He sits on the advisory board of the Edinburgh Science Festival. MacLeod has been chosen as a Guest of Honor at the 82nd Worldcon, Glasgow 2024

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul J. McAuley</span> British botanist and science fiction author (born 1955)

Paul J. McAuley is a British botanist and science fiction author. A biologist by training, McAuley writes mostly hard science fiction. His novels dealing with themes such as biotechnology, alternative history/alternative reality, and space travel.

<i>Childhoods End</i> 1953 novel by Arthur C. Clarke

Childhood's End is a 1953 science fiction novel by the British author Arthur C. Clarke. The story follows the peaceful alien invasion of Earth by the mysterious Overlords, whose arrival begins decades of apparent utopia under indirect alien rule, at the cost of human identity and culture.

<i>Picnic at Hanging Rock</i> (novel) Book by Joan Lindsay

Picnic at Hanging Rock is an Australian historical fiction novel by Joan Lindsay. The novel, set in 1900, is about a group of female students at an Australian girls' boarding school who vanish at Hanging Rock while on a Valentine's Day picnic, and the effects the disappearances have on the school and local community. The novel was first published in 1967 in Australia by Cheshire Publishing and was reprinted by Penguin in 1975. It is widely considered by critics to be one of the greatest Australian novels. In 2022, it was included on the "Big Jubilee Read" list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors, selected to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II.

<i>The A.B.C. Murders</i> 1936 Poirot novel by Agatha Christie

The A.B.C. Murders is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, featuring her characters Hercule Poirot, Arthur Hastings and Chief Inspector Japp, as they contend with a series of killings by a mysterious murderer known only as "A.B.C.". The book was first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 6 January 1936, sold for seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) while a US edition, published by Dodd, Mead and Company on 14 February of the same year, was priced $2.00.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Elliott Clarke</span> Canadian poet, playwright and literary critic (born 1960)

George Elliott Clarke, is a Canadian poet, playwright and literary critic who served as the Poet Laureate of Toronto from 2012 to 2015, and as the 2016–2017 Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate. His work is known largely for its use of a vast range of literary and artistic traditions, its lush physicality and its bold political substance. One of Canada's most illustrious poets, Clarke is also known for chronicling the experience and history of the Black Canadian communities of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, creating a cultural geography that he has coined "Africadia".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter de la Mare</span> English poet and fiction writer

Walter John de la Mare was an English poet, short story writer and novelist. He is probably best remembered for his works for children, for his poem "The Listeners", and for his psychological horror short fiction, including "Seaton's Aunt" and "All Hallows". In 1921, his novel Memoirs of a Midget won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction, and his post-war Collected Stories for Children won the 1947 Carnegie Medal for British children's books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Analytical psychology</span> Jungian theories

Analytical psychology is a term coined by Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist, to describe research into his new "empirical science" of the psyche. It was designed to distinguish it from Freud's psychoanalytic theories as their seven-year collaboration on psychoanalysis was drawing to an end between 1912 and 1913. The evolution of his science is contained in his monumental opus, the Collected Works, written over sixty years of his lifetime.

Courttia Newland is a British writer of Jamaican and Barbadian heritage.

<i>A Voyage to Arcturus</i> 1920 novel by David Lindsay

A Voyage to Arcturus is a novel by the Scottish writer David Lindsay, first published in 1920. An interstellar voyage is the framework for a narrative of a journey through fantastic landscapes. The story is set at Tormance, an imaginary planet orbiting Arcturus, which in the novel is a binary star system, consisting of the stars Branchspell and Alppain. The lands through which the characters travel represent philosophical systems or states of mind as the main character, Maskull, searches for the meaning of life. The book combines fantasy, philosophy, and science fiction in an exploration of the nature of good and evil and their relationship with existence. Described by critic, novelist, and philosopher Colin Wilson as the "greatest novel of the twentieth century", it was a central influence on C. S. Lewis' Space Trilogy, and through him on J. R. R. Tolkien, who said he read the book "with avidity". Clive Barker called it "a masterpiece" and "an extraordinary work ... quite magnificent".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Costa Book Awards</span> Annual series of literary awards in five categories

The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then a brewery and owner of restaurant chains, it was renamed when Costa Coffee, then a subsidiary of Whitbread, took over sponsorship. The companion Costa Short Story Award was established in 2012. Costa Coffee was purchased by the Coca-Cola Company in 2018. The awards were abruptly terminated in 2022.

David Wellington is an American writer of horror fiction, best known for his Zombie trilogy. He also writes science fiction as D. Nolan Clark.

Mary Anne Atwood was an English writer on hermeticism and spiritual alchemy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alchemy in art and entertainment</span>

Alchemy has had a long-standing relationship with art, seen both in alchemical texts and in mainstream entertainment. Literary alchemy appears throughout the history of English literature from Shakespeare to modern Fantasy authors. Here, characters or plot structure follow an alchemical magnum opus. In the fourteenth century, Chaucer began a trend of alchemical satire that can still be seen in recent fantasy works like those of Terry Pratchett.

New York Review Books (NYRB) is the publishing division of The New York Review of Books. Its imprints are New York Review Books Classics, New York Review Books Collections, The New York Review Children's Collection, New York Review Comics, New York Review Books Poets, and NYRB Lit.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to fiction:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur C. Clarke</span> British science fiction writer (1917–2008)

Sir Arthur Charles Clarke was an English science fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max Gladstone</span> American fantasy author (born 1984)

Max Gladstone is an American fantasy author. He is best known for his 2012 debut novel Three Parts Dead, which is part of The Craft Sequence, his urban fantasy serial Bookburners, and for co-writing This Is How You Lose the Time War.

Linda Proud is a British author of historical fiction. She is best known for The Botticelli Trilogy, which is set in late fifteenth-century Florence.

References

  1. "Lindsay Clarke". Lindsay Clarke. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  2. "Sunday Whiteman". Lindsay Clarke. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  3. Rowland, Susan (1999), Rowland, Susan (ed.), "A Jungian Reader Theory: Alchemy and The Chymical Wedding by Lindsay Clarke", C. G. Jung and Literary Theory: The Challenge from Fiction, London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 60–83, doi:10.1057/9780230597648_4, ISBN   978-0-230-59764-8
  4. Liliana Sikorska, "Mapping the Green Man's Territory in Lindsay Clarke's The Chymical Wedding," in: The Year's Work in Medievalism 15 (2002), ed. Jesse Swan and Richard Utz.
  5. Senior, Antonia. "The Water Theatre by Lindsay Clarke". The Times . ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  6. "The Water Theatre by Lindsay Clarke longlisted for the 2012 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award | Fiction Uncovered" . Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  7. "New York Review Books Does e Only with NYRB Lit". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  8. "Lindsay Clarke". Lindsay Clarke. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  9. "Lindsay Clarke | United Agents". www.unitedagents.co.uk. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  10. "Resurgence • Author Lindsay Clarke". www.resurgence.org. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  11. "The Mythic Imagination: From Ancient Troy to the Present Day". Interalia Magazine. 17 May 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  12. Lindsay (23 November 2018). "Imagination Alive & Kicking". Lindsay Clarke. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  13. "Distant socialising". Morning Star. 25 May 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.