Peter Benson (born 1956) is the author of novels, plays, short stories and poetry, and has been described by the ''

London Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' as having "one of the most distinctive voices in modern British fiction".

Career

He has won a number of prizes for his work, including The

Guardian Fiction Prize The Guardian Fiction Prize was a literary award sponsored by ''The Guardian'' newspaper. Founded in 1965, it recognized one fiction book per year written by a British or Commonwealth writer and published in the United Kingdom. The award ran for 33 ...

, The Encore Award and The Somerset Maugham Award, and was awarded a Society of Authors

Travelling Scholarship The Travelling Scholarships were established in 1944 to enable British creative writers to keep in touch with their colleagues abroad. As directed by the anonymous founder of the trust, the Scholarships are administered by the Society of Authors a ...

in 1994.

Personal life

Benson is father to a daughter, Ella (born 1995), by poet

Carol Ann Duffy Dame Carol Ann Duffy (born 23 December 1955) is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is a professor of contemporary poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009, resigning in 2019. She was the first ...

who was in a relationship with novelist and poet

Jackie Kay Jacqueline Margaret Kay, (born 9 November 1961), is a Scottish poet, playwright, and novelist, known for her works ''Other Lovers'' (1993), ''Trumpet'' (1998) and ''Red Dust Road'' (2011). Kay has won many awards, including the Guardian Fictio ...

Bibliography

Novels

* 1987, ''The Levels'' (Constable, Penguin) * 1989, ''A Lesser Dependency'' (Macmillan, Penguin) * 1990, ''The Other Occupant'' (Macmillan, Penguin) * 1993, ''Odo's Hanging'' (Hodder & Stoughton) * 1994, ''Riptide'' (Hodder & Stoughton) * 1995, ''A Private Moon'' (Hodder & Stoughton) * 1997, ''The Shape of Clouds'' (Hodder & Stoughton) * 2011, ''Two Cows and a Vanful of Smoke'' (Alma Books) * 2012, ''Isabel's Skin'' (Alma Books) * 2017, ''The South in Winter'' (Alma Books) * 2020, ''The Stromness Dinner'' (Seren) * 2022, ''Kidnap Fury of the Smoking Lovers'' (Seren)

Plays

* 2013, ''The Two Friends'' with Alessandro Gallenzi (Calder Publications)

Short stories

* 1987, ''Jude'': Winter's Tales 3 (Constable) * 1988, ''Alan'': Winter's Tales 4 (Constable) * 1988, ''Rajastan, 1987'': 20 Under 35 (Picador) * 1990, ''Gates of Swimming'': Winter's Tales 6 (Constable) * 2000, ''Dominion'': New Writing 9 (Vintage)

Awards

* ''The Levels'' - Winner, The

Author's Club First Novel Award The Authors' Club Best First Novel Award is awarded by the Authors' Club to the most promising first novel of the year, written by a British author and published in the UK during the calendar year preceding the year in which the award is presented. ...

* ''The Levels'' - Winner, The

Betty Trask Prize The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are for first novels written by authors under the age of 35, who reside in a current or former Commonwealth nation. Each year the awards total £20,000, with one author receiving a larger prize amount, called the ...

* ''The Levels'' - Shortlisted, The

Whitbread Book Award The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...

* ''The Levels'' - Shortlisted, The

Premio Letterario Chianti The and its twin the are sedans sold in Japan from 2001 to 2021 by Toyota. The sedans are designated as a compact car by Japanese dimension regulations and the exterior dimensions do not change with periodic updates. Unlike Toyota's other v ...

* ''A Lesser Dependency'' - Winner, The Encore Award * ''The Other Occupant'' - Winner, The Somerset Maugham Award * ''Society of Authors'' - Awarded,

1994 * ''Two Cows and a Vanful of Smoke'' - Selected, Fiction Uncovered 2012

References

1956 births English male novelists 20th-century English novelists 21st-century English novelists 20th-century English male writers 21st-century English male writers Living people {{England-novelist-stub