Francis Henry King (4 March 19233 July 2011) Ion Trewin and Jonathan Fryer
"Obituary: Francis King"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 3 July 2011. was a British novelist and short story writer. He worked for the British Council for 15 years, with positions in Europe and Japan. For 25 years he was a chief book reviewer for the '' Sunday Telegraph'', and for 10 years its theatre critic."Obituary of Francis King"
''The Daily Telegraph'', 5 July 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2012.

Early life and Council career

King was born on 4 March 1923 in

Adelboden , neighboring_municipalities= Diemtigen, Frutigen, Kandersteg, Lenk im Simmental, Leukerbad (VS), Sankt Stephan , twintowns= } Adelboden is a mountain village and a municipality in Switzerland, located in the Frutigen-Niedersimmental admin ...

, Switzerland, to a father in the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million p ...

, brought up in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

and sent back to England when his father was dying. As a boy, he was shunted around among aunts and uncles. He was educated at

Shrewsbury School Shrewsbury School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13 –18) in Shrewsbury. Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by Royal Charter, it was originally a boarding school for boys; girls have been admitted into ...

and Balliol College, Oxford. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

he was a conscientious objector and left Oxford to work on the land. After completing his degree in 1949, King worked for the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

. His positions with them took him to Italy,

Salonika Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

, and finally

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

. While he was in Greece he met the uninhibited writer

Anne Cumming Anne Cumming (the pen name of Felicity Anne Cumming Mason, 14 December 1917 – 28 August 1993) was a British translator, public relations officer, polyamorist and writer. Early life Cumming was born in Walton-on-Thames in 1917, to parents Howa ...

, who was also working for the British Council. She enjoyed observing his homosexual adventures. In 1964 he resigned to write full-time, by when he had already published nine novels, as well as poetry and a memoir.

Literary career

He won the

W. Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...

Prize for his novel ''The Dividing Stream'' (1951) and also won the

Katherine Mansfield Kathleen Mansfield Murry (née Beauchamp; 14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923) was a New Zealand writer, essayist and journalist, widely considered one of the most influential and important authors of the modernist movement. Her works are celebra ...

Short Story Prize. In 2000, he was awarded the

Golden PEN Award The Golden PEN Award is a literary award established in 1993 by English PEN given annually to a British writer for "a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature". The winner is chosen by the Board of English PEN. The award has previously been ...

English PEN Founded in 1921, English PEN is one of the world's first non-governmental organisations and among the first international bodies advocating for human rights. English PEN was the founding centre of PEN International, a worldwide writers' associat ...

for "a Lifetime's Distinguished Service to Literature". His 1956 book ''The Firewalkers'' was published pseudonymously under the name Frank Cauldwell. From 1986 to 1989 he was President of

PEN International PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internatio ...

, the worldwide association of writers and oldest human rights organisation. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and was appointed an Officer (OBE) of the Order of the British Empire in 1979 and a Commander of the Order (CBE) in 1985. In 2003, his novel ''The Nick of Time'' was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize.

Personal life

King came out as homosexual in the 1970s. After his long-term partner had died from AIDS in 1988, he described their relationship in ''Yesterday Came Suddenly'' (1993). King suffered a stroke in 2005.

Death

Francis King died on 3 July 2011, at the age of 88.

Works

*''To the Dark Tower'' (1946) - novel *''Never Again'' (1948) - novel *''An Air That Kills'' (1948) - novel *''The Dividing Stream'' (1951) - novel (winner of the Somerset Maugham Award) *''Rod of Incantation'' (1952) - poems *''The Dark Glasses'' (1954) - novel *''The Firewalkers: a Memoir'' (1956) (written under the name Frank Cauldwell) *''The Man on the Rock'' (1957) - novel *''The Widow'' (1957) - novel *''So Hurt and Humiliated'' (1959) - short story collection (#1 of 4) *''The Custom House'' (1961) - novel *''The Japanese Umbrella and Other Stories'' (1964) - short story collection (#2 of 4) *''The Last of the Pleasure Gardens'' (1965) - novel *''The Waves Behind the Boat'' (1967) - novel *''Robert de Montesquiou'' by Philippe Julian (1967) – translator, along with John Haylock *''The Brighton Belle and Other Stories'' (1968) - short story collection (#3 of 4) *''The Domestic Animal'' (1970) - novel (revised version of the suppressed 1969 edition) *''Flights'' (1973) - novel *''A Game of Patience'' (1974) - novel *''The Needle'' (1975) - novel *''E.M. Forster and his World'' (1978) – a biography of the author of ''A Passage to India'' and ''Howards End'' *''Act of Darkness'' (1983) - novel *''Voices in an Empty Room'' (1984) - novel *''Frozen Music'' (1987) - novella *''Visiting Cards'' (1990) - novel *''Punishments'' (1989) - novel *''The Ant Colony'' (1992) - novel *''Yesterday Came Suddenly'' (1993) – autobiography *''Ash on an old man's sleeve'' (1996) - novel *''Dead Letters'' (1998) - novel *''The Nick of Time'' (2002) novel *''The Sunlight on the Garden'' (2005) – short story collection (#4 of 4) *''With My Little Eye'' (2007) - novel *''Cold Snap'' (2009) - novel

Early life and Council career

Literary career

Personal life

Death

Works

References

External links