Sarah Perry | |
---|---|
Born | Chelmsford, Essex, England | 28 November 1979
Occupation | Writer |
Alma mater | Royal Holloway, University of London, Chelmsford County High School for Girls |
Chancellor of the University of Essex | |
Assumed office 1 August 2023 | |
Vice Chancellor | Anthony Forster |
Preceded by | John Bercow (vacant 2021-2023) |
Website | |
www |
Sarah Grace Perry FRSL (born 28 November 1979) is an English author. She has had four novels published:After Me Comes the Flood (2014), The Essex Serpent (2016),Melmoth (2018) and Enlightenment (2024). Her work has been translated into 22 languages. She was appointed Chancellor of the University of Essex in July 2023, [1] officially starting in this role on 1 August 2023. [2]
Perry was born,the youngest of five sisters,in Chelmsford,Essex,into a family of devout Christians who were members of a Strict Baptist church. Growing up with almost no access to contemporary art,culture,and writing,she filled her time with classical music,classic novels and poetry,and church-related activities. She says this early immersion in old literature and the King James Bible profoundly influenced her writing style. [3] She attended Chelmsford County High School for Girls. She married her husband Robert Perry at the age of 20. She graduated from Anglia Polytechnic University (now Anglia Ruskin University) with a degree in English Literature then worked briefly in the Civil Service.
Perry has a PhD in creative writing from Royal Holloway University where her supervisor was Sir Andrew Motion. Her doctoral thesis was on the Gothic in the writing of Iris Murdoch,and Perry has subsequently published an article on the Gothic in Aeon magazine. [4] [5]
I wrote about the power of place in my PhD thesis, particularly the importance of buildings in the Gothic (a genre which I find myself inhabiting without ever having meant to). Fiction in the Gothic inheritance makes much of the potent importance of the interior, from the castle where Jonathan Harker finds himself holed up to Thornfield, and from the suburban homes in Hilary Mantel's Beyond Black to the ghastly crypts in The Monk.
In 2013, she was a writer in residence at Gladstone's Library. [6]
Perry won the 2004 Shiva Naipaul Memorial prize for travel writing for 'A little unexpected', an article about her experiences in the Philippines. [7] [8]
In June 2018, Perry was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in its "40 Under 40" initiative. [9]
Perry's debut novel, After Me Comes the Flood, was released in 2014 by Serpent's Tail, receiving high praise from reviewers including those of The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian . [10] The novel tells the story of a man named John Cole who wanders into a strange world while seeking out his brother amidst a drought. John Burnside, writing for The Guardian, called it "extraordinary" and "a remarkable debut". [11] |title=
Her second novel, The Essex Serpent, was also published by Serpent's Tail in 2016. Inspired by the myth of a sea serpent on the Essex coast, it tells the story of a Victorian widow, Cora Seaborne, and the friends who surround her after the death of her bullying husband. Cora is intrigued and compelled by the possibility of the serpent's return, but clashes with the local vicar, William Ransome, who is determined to lay superstition to rest in his rural parish.
The novel is again written in a gothic style, and explores themes of goodness, friendship, superstition, and love and once again received positive reviews; John Burnside, quoted on the book's cover, writes: "Had Charles Dickens and Bram Stoker come together to write the great Victorian novel, I wonder if it would have surpassed The Essex Serpent? No way of knowing, but with only her second outing, Sarah Perry establishes herself as one of the finest fiction writers working in Britain today." [12]
The Essex Serpent was nominated in the Novel category for the 2016 Costa Book Awards [13] and was named Waterstones Book of the Year 2016. [14] It was placed on the long list for the 2017 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. [15] It was adapted for a limited series on Apple TV+ in 2022.
Her third novel is titled Melmoth, and was inspired by Charles Maturin's gothic novel Melmoth the Wanderer . [16] It was published by Serpent's Tail in October 2018. [17] Melmoth was shortlisted for the 2019 Dylan Thomas Prize. [18]
Perry's fourth novel, Enlightenment, was published by Cape in May 2024. The Times Literary Supplement called it an "uplifting perspective on the relationship between faith and facts" and "a delicate piece of misdirection." [19]
Melmoth the Wanderer is an 1820 Gothic novel by Irish playwright, novelist and clergyman Charles Maturin. The novel's titular character is a scholar who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for 150 extra years of life, and searches the world for someone who will take over the pact for him, in a manner reminiscent of the Wandering Jew.
Dame Hilary Mary Mantel was a British writer whose work includes historical fiction, personal memoirs and short stories. Her first published novel, Every Day Is Mother's Day, was released in 1985. She went on to write 12 novels, two collections of short stories, a personal memoir, and numerous articles and opinion pieces.
The Waterstones Children's Book Prize is an annual award given to a work of children's literature published during the previous year. First awarded in 2005, the purpose of the prize is "to uncover hidden talent in children's writing" and is therefore open only to authors who have published no more than two or three books, depending on which category they are in. The prize is awarded by British book retailer Waterstones.
Alice Albinia is an English journalist and author whose first book, Empires of the Indus, won several awards.
Sarah Ladipo Manyika FRSL is a British-Nigerian writer of novels, short stories and essays and an active member of the literary community, particularly supporting and amplifying young writers and female voices. She is the author of two well-received novels, In Dependence (2009) and Like A Mule Bringing Ice Cream To The Sun (2016), as well as the non-fiction collection Between Starshine and Clay: Conversations from the African Diaspora (2022), and her writing has appeared in publications including Granta, Transition, Guernica, and OZY, and previously served as founding Books Editor of OZY. Manyika's work also features in the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.
Mez Packer is an English novelist. She is the author of Among Thieves and The Game Is Altered and lectures at Coventry University.
Amy Sackville is a British writer whose debut novel The Still Point was the winner of the 2010 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize.
Annabel Pitcher is a British children's writer.
Kiran Millwood Hargrave FRSL is a British poet, playwright and novelist. In 2023, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Sophia Briscoe was an English author of two epistolary novels. Little is known of her life.
Namwali Serpell is an American and Zambian writer who teaches in the United States. In April 2014, she was named on Hay Festival's Africa39 list of 39 sub-Saharan African writers aged under 40 with the potential and talent to define trends in African literature. Her short story "The Sack" won the 2015 Caine Prize for African fiction in English. In 2020, Serpell won the Belles-lettres category Grand Prix of Literary Associations 2019 for her debut novel The Old Drift.
Sally Green is a British fantasy author. Her work includes the Half Bad trilogy, related short stories, and The Smoke Thieves trilogy. The Half Bad trilogy was adapted into the Netflix series The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself.
The Waterstones Book of the Year, established in 2012, is an annual award presented to a book published in the previous 12 months. Waterstones' booksellers nominate and vote to determine the winners and finalists for the prize.
Patrice Lawrence MBE, FRSL is a British writer and journalist, who has published fiction both for adults and children. Her writing has won awards including the Waterstones Children's Book Prize for Older Children and The Bookseller YA Book Prize. In 2021, she won the Jhalak Prize's inaugural children's and young adult category for her book Eight Pieces of Silva (2020).
The Essex Serpent is a 2016 novel by British author Sarah Perry. The book is the second novel by Perry and was released on 27 May 2016 in the United Kingdom through Serpent's Tail, an imprint of Profile Books.
Naoise Dolan is an Irish novelist. She is known for her novels Exciting Times (2020), and The Happy Couple (2023).
The Essex Serpent is a British gothic romance period drama miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Sarah Perry. The series was written by Anna Symon, directed by Clio Barnard, and starred Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleston in the lead roles. It premiered on Apple TV+ on 13 May 2022.
The Rabbit Hutch is a 2022 debut novel by writer Tess Gunty and winner of the 2022 National Book Award for Fiction. Gunty won the inaugural Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize and the Barnes & Noble Discover Prize for the novel.
Tess Gunty is an American novelist. Her debut novel, The Rabbit Hutch, won the 2022 National Book Award for Fiction.
Alice Winn is an American novelist and screenwriter. She won the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize in 2023 for her novel, In Memoriam.