Ros Barber

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Dr

Ros Barber
Born1964
OccupationNovelist, poet, academic
NationalityBritish
Notable work The Marlowe Papers
Notable awards Desmond Elliott Prize, Authors' Club Best First Novel Award, Hoffman Prize
Website
rosbarber.com

Dr. Rosalind Barber [1] (born 1964) is an English novelist, poet and academic. [2]

Contents

Education

She has a BSc in Biology, an MA in creative writing, the arts and education, and a PhD in English literature, all from the University of Sussex. She also has an Open University BA in English literature and philosophy. [3]

Barber has worked as a computer programmer. [4]

Novels

Barber's first novel, The Marlowe Papers (2012), is written in blank verse. She subscribes to the Marlovian theory of Shakespeare authorship. [5] [6] In the book, Marlowe's death is a ruse and he writes plays in Shakespeare's name. The book won the Desmond Elliott Prize [7] and the Authors' Club First Novel Award. [8] Her second novel, Devotion (2015), [9] was shortlisted for the Encore Award. [10]

Barber made an appearance at the Brighton Fringe in 2012. [11] [12] She and Nicola Haydn wrote a one-man stage adaptation of The Marlowe Papers performed in 2016. [13] [14]

Poetry

Of Barber's three volumes of poetry, Material (2008) was a Poetry Book Society recommendation. [10] Its title poem, which also appears in the Faber anthology Poems of the Decade (2015), was in England's school sixth-form syllabus as of 2017. [15]

Academic position

As of 2021, Barber lectures in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her appointment ended in 2024. [16]

Awards

She won the Hoffman Prize in 2011, 2014 and 2018. [17] [18] [1]

YearWorkAwardResultRef
2011 The Marlowe Papers Hoffman Prize Won [17]
2013 Authors' Club First Novel Award Won
Desmond Elliott Prize Won
Women's Prize for Fiction Longlisted [19]
2014"Shortly he will forget to go" Hoffman Prize Won [18]
2015Devotion Encore Award Shortlisted [10]
2018"Big Data, Little Certainty" Hoffman Prize Won [1]

Bibliography

Novels

Poetry

Non-fiction

Personal life

Barber's parents divorced when she was young. A brother of hers died of cancer. [20]

Barber first married in the early 1990s. The marriage produced three sons, and ended in divorce when she was in her mid-30s. [21] [22] [23]

After receiving a financial settlement from her first husband, approximately two years after their breakup, Barber went on a two week trip to Costa Rica in February 2001 with a close friend named Paul. Intended as an exploration of tantric sex but without any romance involved, the two unexpectedly fell in love and returned to the United Kingdom a married couple. As of August 2025, they have been married for nearly a quarter century. [24] [25]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "The Calvin & Rose G Hoffman Prize winners". The King's School, Canterbury . 13 December 2018. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  2. ↑ Forward Arts. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  3. ↑ Goldsmiths College site. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  4. ↑ Masters, Tim (28 June 2013). "Author faced 'hostility' over book". BBC. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  5. ↑ Winkler, Elizabeth (May 2023). Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies. Simon & Schuster. p. 296. ISBN   9781982171261.
  6. ↑ Nicholl, Charles (25 January 2013). "Exiting the Stage". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 October 2019. Dr. Barber is a "Marlovian" not only in the generic and beneficial sense of being an admirer of Marlowe, but in the more specific and, some will say, more tiresome sense of being a believer in the theory that Marlowe wrote the plays of Shakespeare.
  7. ↑ Masters, Tim (27 June 2013). "The Marlowe Papers wins Desmond Elliott Prize". BBC News. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  8. ↑ "Ros Barber – The Poetry Society". poetrysociety.org.uk. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  9. ↑ Feay, Suzi (19 August 2015). "Devotion by Ros Barber review – the conflict between religion and science". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  10. 1 2 3 McLoughlin, Nigel (2016). The Portable Poetry Workshop. Macmillan Publishers. pp. viii. ISBN   978-1-137-60596-2 . Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  11. ↑ Author's page. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  12. ↑ Royal Literary Fund. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  13. ↑ Hall, Duncan (29 January 2016). "The Marlowe Papers, Otherplace At The Basement, Kensington Street, Brighton, until Saturday, January 29, call 01273 987516". The Argus (Brighton) . Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  14. ↑ Barber, Ros (12 February 2016). "Further Developments with The Marlowe Papers". Ros Barber. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  15. ↑ "Amendment to GCE AS and A level English Literature, Prescribed texts – Poems of the Decade" (PDF). pearson.com. Pearson. 4 January 2017. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  16. ↑ Goldsmiths page. Retrieved March 29, 2025.
  17. 1 2 "THE MARLOWE PAPERS by Ros Barber | Kirkus Reviews". Kirkus Reviews . Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  18. 1 2 "Hoffman Prize Winners". The Marlowe Society. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  19. ↑ "Women's Prize for Fiction 2013 longlist announced | News | RGfE". readinggroups.org. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  20. ↑ "We're Just Here for the Sex, Please". The New York Times .
  21. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1ArhmZov7p/
  22. ↑ "We're Just Here for the Sex, Please". The New York Times .
  23. ↑ "From Brilliant Programmer to Bad Waitress".
  24. ↑ "KEEPER OF THE SNAILS: Ros Barber - Poet".
  25. ↑ "We're Just Here for the Sex, Please". The New York Times .
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