Ursula Bentley

Last updated

Ursula Bentley (18 September 1945 - 7 April 2004) was a British writer.

Contents

Early life

Ursula Mary Bentley was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, 18 September 1945. A couple hours after her birth her mother died of blood loss leaving her father to raise her along with her two older brothers. Her eldest brother was Chris Bentley, born in 1936, who died at age 29. Her other older brother is the actor and writer Paul Bentley, born in 1942. [1] [2]

Personal life and literary works

Ursula Bentley first studied medical training but then switched to English at Manchester University. She graduated in 1969 and married geologist Alan Bruce Thompson in the same year. In 1976 the married pair moved to Switzerland. It is there that she composed her first novel The Natural Order in 1982. The success of this book led her to being named in the inaugural "Best of British Young Novelists" list by Granta magazine. Her second book Private Accounts came out in 1986. She had two children. She returned to the UK to renew her life and published more novels: The Angel Of Twickenham (1996) and The Sloping Experience (1999). Living in Suffolk. [1] [3] [4] [5]

Awards and honours

Related Research Articles

Kazuo Ishiguro English novelist

Sir Kazuo Ishiguro is an English novelist, screenwriter, musician, and short-story writer. He was born in Nagasaki, Japan, and moved to Britain in 1960 with his parents when he was five.

Zadie Smith British novelist

Zadie Smith FRSL is an English novelist, essayist, and short-story writer. Her debut novel, White Teeth (2000), immediately became a best-seller and won a number of awards. She has been a tenured professor in the Creative Writing faculty of New York University since September 2010.

Buchi Emecheta Nigerian writer

Florence Onyebuchi "Buchi" Emecheta was a Nigerian-born novelist, based in the UK from 1962, who also wrote plays and an autobiography, as well as works for children. She was the author of more than 20 books, including Second Class Citizen (1974), The Bride Price (1976), The Slave Girl (1977) and The Joys of Motherhood (1979). Most of her early novels were published by Allison and Busby, where her editor was Margaret Busby.

Kamila Shamsie Pakistani writer

Kamila Shamsie FRSL is a Pakistani and British writer and novelist who is best known for her award-winning novel Home Fire (2017). Named on Granta magazine's list of 20 best young British writers, Shamsie has been described by The New Indian Express as "a novelist to reckon with and to look forward to." She also writes for publications including The Guardian, New Statesman, Index on Censorship and Prospect, and broadcasts on radio.

David Mitchell (author) English novelist and screenwriter

David Stephen Mitchell is an English novelist, television writer, and screenwriter.

Helen Oyeyemi British novelist and playwright

Helen Oyeyemi FRSL is a British novelist and writer of short stories.

Monica Ali

Monica Ali FRSL is a British writer of Bangladeshi and English heritage. In 2003, she was selected as one of the "Best of Young British Novelists" by Granta magazine based on her unpublished manuscript; her debut novel, Brick Lane, was published later that year. It was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. It was adapted as a 2007 film of the same name. She has also published three other novels. Her fifth novel, Love Marriage, was published by Virago Press in February 2022 and became an instant Sunday Times bestseller.

Rachel Seiffert is a British novelist and short story writer.

Naomi Alderman is an English novelist and game writer. She is best known for her speculative science fiction novel The Power, which won the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction in 2017.

Romesh Gunesekera

Romesh Gunesekera FRSL is a Sri Lankan-born British author, who was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for his novel Reef in 1994. He has judged a number of literary prizes and was Chair of the judges of Commonwealth Short Story Prize competition for 2015.

Esther Freud British novelist

Esther Freud is a British novelist.

Tahmima Anam is a Bangladeshi-born British writer, novelist and columnist. Her first novel, A Golden Age (2007), was the Best First Book winner of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prizes. Her follow-up novel, The Good Muslim, was nominated for the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize. She is the granddaughter of Abul Mansur Ahmed and daughter of Mahfuz Anam.

Xiaolu Guo Chinese-British novelist and film director (born November 20, 1973)

Xiaolu Guo born November 20, 1973) is a Chinese-born British novelist, memoirist and film-maker, who explores migration, alienation, memory, personal journeys, feminism, translation and transnational identities.

Sarah Hall is an English novelist and short story writer. Her critically acclaimed second novel, The Electric Michelangelo, was nominated for the 2004 Man Booker Prize. She lives in Cumbria.

Nadifa Mohamed Somali-british novelist

Nadifa Mohamed is a Somali-British novelist. She featured on Granta magazine's list "Best of Young British Novelists" in 2013, and in 2014 on the Africa39 list of writers aged under 40 with potential and talent to define future trends in African literature. Her 2021 novel, The Fortune Men, was shortlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize, making her the first British Somali novelist to get this honour. She has also written short stories, essays, memoirs and articles in outlets including The Guardian, and contributed poetry to the anthology New Daughters of Africa. She was also a lecturer in Creative Writing in the Department of English at Royal Holloway, University of London until 2021. She will be Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University in Spring 2022.

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.

Ned Beauman is a British novelist, journalist and screenwriter. The author of five novels, he was selected as one of the Best of Young British Novelists by Granta magazine in 2013.

Chinelo Okparanta Nigerian-American writer

Chinelo Okparanta is a Nigerian-American novelist and short-story writer. She was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, where she was raised until the age of 10, when she emigrated to the United States with her family.

Yaa Gyasi Ghanaian-American novelist

Yaa Gyasi is a Ghanaian-American novelist. Her debut novel Homegoing, published in 2016, won her, at the age of 26, the National Book Critics Circle's John Leonard Award for best first book, the PEN/Hemingway Award for a first book of fiction, the National Book Foundation's "5 under 35" honors for 2016 and the American Book Award. She was awarded a Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Literature in 2020.

Halle Butler is an American author. She grew up in Bloomington, Illinois and lives in Chicago. After co-writing two independent films, Butler published her first novel, Jillian in 2015. Her second novel, The New Me was released in 2019. Butler was recognised as one of Granta’s Best of Young American Novelists and honored as one of the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35.

References

  1. 1 2 "Books: The one that got away". The Guardian. 2 January 2003. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  2. "Archive Interview • PAUL BENTLEY • Follies • 2002". Rogues & Vagabonds. 23 June 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  3. Donnelly, Frances (26 April 2004). "Obituary: Ursula Bentley". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  4. "Ms Ursula Bentley - Literature". literature.britishcouncil.org. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  5. 1 2 "Ursula Bentley 'Granta' Young British Novelist with a sharp eye for social detail Monday". The Independent. 10 October 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2020.