William Fiennes | |
---|---|
Born | William John Fiennes 7 August 1970 Oxfordshire, England |
Occupation | Author |
Nationality | British |
Education | Eton College |
Alma mater | Oxford University |
Genre | Memoir |
Notable works | The Snow Geese The Music Room |
Notable awards | 2003 Hawthornden Prize |
Parents | Nathaniel Fiennes, 21st Baron Saye and Sele Mariette Salisbury-Jones |
Relatives | Susannah Fiennes (sister) |
Website | |
William Fiennes |
William John Fiennes FRSL (born 7 August 1970) is an English author best known for his memoirs The Snow Geese (2002) and The Music Room (2009).
Fiennes was born into the aristocratic Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes family and raised in 14th-century Broughton Castle in Oxfordshire, the youngest of five children of Nathaniel Fiennes, 21st Baron Saye and Sele (1920−2024) and Mariette Salisbury-Jones (b. 1935). [1] The artist Susannah Fiennes and the 22nd Baron Saye and Sele are his twin siblings, and his maternal grandfather was the soldier and courtier Guy Salisbury-Jones. One of William's brothers died in a road accident at the age of three before he was born, and another brother, Richard, developed epilepsy which caused aggression and mood swings (and eventually his death at the age of 41). [2] [3]
Fiennes was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford, [4] Eton College, and Oxford University, where he received both undergraduate and graduate degrees. [3]
Fiennes' first book, The Snow Geese (2002), is his account of how he followed snow geese from Texas to their summer breeding grounds on Baffin Island, and a meditation on the idea of home. Mark Cocker reviewed it for The Guardian, writing: "The Snow Geese is the debut of a striking talent". [5] It was shortlisted for the 2002 Samuel Johnson Prize and won the 2003 Hawthornden Prize, the 2003 Somerset Maugham Award and the 2003 Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. [6]
His second book, The Music Room (2009), is his memoir of growing up in an English castle with an elder brother, Richard, who suffered from severe epilepsy which caused mood swings and intermittent aggression, but who could also be very loving and creative. The Music Room was called "a small masterpiece, a tribute to the power of place, family and memory" by Nicholas Shakespeare, who reviewed it for the Telegraph. [7] It was shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards, the Duff Cooper Prize, the Ondaatje Prize, the PEN/Ackerley Prize and the Independent Booksellers' Book of the Year Award. [8]
Fiennes has also written for Granta , the London Review of Books , The Observer , the Daily Telegraph and the Times Literary Supplement . [9]
In 2011, Fiennes contributed a short fable, "Why the Ash has Black Buds", to an anthology titled Why Willows Weep. Sales from the book raised funds for The Woodland Trust and its mission to plant native trees throughout Great Britain. [10]
In 2018, he contributed a chapter to the book Beneath the Skin: Great Writers on the Body (Profile Books). The chapter is about two years in his early 20s when the chronic illness Crohn's disease forced him to live with part of his intestines protruding outside of his abdominal cavity through a surgical incision. [11] First diagnosed at the age of nineteen, he has undergone several surgeries and hospitalisations over the years and in 2009, he called his struggle with Crohn's "exhausting and demoralising". [12] [2]
Fiennes spent two years as Fellow in the Creative Arts at Wolfson College, Oxford and in 2007, he was named Writer-in-Residence at the American School in London and at Cranford Community College, Hounslow. [6] Since 2011, he has taught Creative Writing at Newcastle University. [13]
William Fiennes is a second cousin of the explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes and a distant relative of the travel writer Celia Fiennes (1662–1741). [14] He is a third cousin of the actors Ralph Fiennes and Joseph Fiennes. [15]
He plays cricket as a member of the Authors XI team of British writers and contributed a chapter, "Cricket and Memory" (which concludes with him breaking his collarbone while diving to make a catch), to the team's 2013 book about their first year together, The Authors XI: A Season of English Cricket from Hackney to Hambledon. Team captain Charlie Campbell describes Fiennes in the book as "the best fielder in the side and the most stylish batsman", while teammate Jon Hotten calls him "undoubtedly the nicest man in cricket". [16]
In 2007, Fiennes co-founded the charity First Story, which brings acclaimed authors to secondary schools in low-income communities, where they run writing workshops for students to foster creativity. [17]
He was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2009. [18]
Baron Saye and Sele is a title in the Peerage of England held by the Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes family. The title dates to 1447 but it was recreated in 1603. Confusion over the details of the 15th-century title has led to conflicting order for titleholders; authorities such as Burke's Peerage and Debrett's Peerage do not agree on whether or not the 1447 creation is still extant.
William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele was an English nobleman and politician. He was a leading critic of Charles I's rule during the 1620s and 1630s. He was known also for his involvement in several companies for setting up overseas colonies.
Nathaniel Fiennes, c. 1608 to 16 December 1669, was a younger son of the Puritan nobleman and politician, William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele. He sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1640 and 1659, and served with the Parliamentarian army in the First English Civil War. In 1643, he was dismissed from the army for alleged incompetence after surrendering Bristol and sentenced to death before being pardoned. Exonerated in 1645, he actively supported Oliver Cromwell during The Protectorate, being Lord Keeper of the Great Seal from 1655 to 1659.
James Fiennes, 1st Baron Saye and Sele was an English soldier and politician. He was born at Herstmonceux, Sussex, the second son of Sir William Fiennes and his wife Elizabeth Batisford.
Shutford is a village and civil parish in the Cherwell district, in Oxfordshire, England, about 4.5 miles (7.2 km) west of Banbury. The village is about 475 feet (145 m) above sea level. In 2011 the parish had a population of 476. In 1870–72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Shutford like this:
Broughton is a village and civil parish in northern Oxfordshire, England, about 2+1⁄2 miles (4 km) southwest of Banbury. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 286.
Broughton Castle is a medieval fortified manor house in the village of Broughton, which is about two miles southwest of Banbury in Oxfordshire, England, on the B4035 road.
Viscount Saye and Sele was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created on 7 July 1624 for William Fiennes, 8th Baron Saye and Sele, who thus became the 1st Viscount Saye and Sele. The title became extinct on the death of Richard Fiennes 6th Viscount on 29 July 1781.
Nathaniel Thomas Allen Fiennes, 21st Baron Saye and Sele,, styled as Lord Saye and Sele, was an English peer, businessman, chartered surveyor and army officer.
Geoffrey Cecil Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 18th Baron Saye and Sele was an English soldier and Liberal politician from the Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes family. He served as Comptroller of the Household between 1912 and 1915.
John Fiennes was the third son of Puritan noble and politician William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele. He served in the Parliamentarian army during the First English Civil War, before resigning his commission when elected MP for Morpeth in 1645. Excluded from Parliament by Pride's Purge in December 1648, he largely avoided politics thereafter but was appointed to Cromwell's Upper House in 1658.
James Fiennes, 2nd Viscount Saye and Sele was an English peer and MP at various times between 1625 and 1660, when he succeeded his father and entered the House of Lords.
The Venerable Frederick Fiennes, 16th Baron Saye and Sele, MA (1799–1887) was Archdeacon of Hereford from 1863 to 1887.
Richard Fiennes, 7th and 1st Baron Saye and Sele was an English peer and diplomat.
Major General Thomas Twisleton, 13th Baron Saye and Sele was a British Army officer and peer.
The Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes family are the descendants of the 16th Baron Saye and Sele who was born Frederick Benjamin Twisleton and adopted the surname Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes in 1849 by Act of Parliament. He was the grandson of Thomas Twisleton, 13th Baron Saye and Sele and inherited the barony from his first cousin William Thomas Eardley-Twisleton-Fiennes in 1847. The surname is frequently shortened to Fiennes. Members of the family include the explorer Ranulph Fiennes and the actors Ralph Fiennes, Joseph Fiennes, and Hero Fiennes Tiffin.
The Authors Cricket Club is a wandering amateur English cricket club founded in 1899 and revived most recently in 2012. Prominent British writers including Arthur Conan Doyle, P. G. Wodehouse, A. A. Milne, E. W. Hornung and J. M. Barrie have been featured as players on the club team, the Authors XI.
Wingfield Stratford Twisleton Wykeham Fiennes was an English first-class cricketer and clergyman.
John Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 17th Baron Saye and Sele was an English peer and first-class cricketer.
Martin Guy Fiennes, 22nd Baron Saye and Sele,, styled as Lord Saye and Sele, is an English peer and businessman.