Allegra Huston (born 26 August 1964) is a British-American author, editor, and writer based in

Taos, New Mexico Taos () is a town in Taos County, New Mexico, Taos County, in the north-central region of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Santa Fe ...

. She is the author of ''Love Child: A Memoir of Family Lost and Found'' and the novel ''A Stolen Summer'' (''Say My Name'' in hardback), ''How to Edit and Be Edited.'' She is the co-founder of Imaginative Storm Writing Workshops with James Navé; they are the co-authors of ''Write What You Don't Know: 10 Steps to Writing with Confidence, Energy, and Flow'' and ''How to Read for an Audience''. She is also the screenwriter and producer of the short film ''Good Luck, Mr. Gorski.''

Early life

Huston was born on 26 August 1964 in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England. Her mother was ballerina

Enrica Soma Enrica Georgia Soma (May 9, 1929 – January 29, 1969) was an American socialite, model, and prima ballerina. She was also the wife of director John Huston and mother of their three children. Life and career Soma was born in Manhattan, New York ...

, and her father was

John Julius Cooper John Julius Cooper, 2nd Viscount Norwich, (15 September 1929 – 1 June 2018), known as John Julius Norwich, was an English popular historian, writer of widely read travel books, and television personality. Biography Youth Norwich was born a ...

, 2nd Viscount Norwich. When Huston was four, her mother died in a car accident in early 1969 and she subsequently moved to

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, where she was raised by her mother's estranged husband, film director

John Huston John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics. He rec ...

. Huston's half-siblings are actress and director

Anjelica Huston Anjelica Huston ( ; born July 8, 1951) is an American actress, director and model. She is best known for playing Morticia Addams in the ''The Addams Family'' and '' The Addams Family Values'', as well as often portraying eccentric and distincti ...

, writer

Tony Huston Walter Anthony Huston (born April 16, 1950) is an American actor, writer, and assistant director. Biography Born April 16, 1950 in Los Angeles County, California, the son of director John Huston, and his fourth wife Enrica Soma. At birth, was nam ...

, writer Artemis Cooper, and Jason Cooper, the 3rd Viscount Norwich.

Career

After earning a degree in English from

Hertford College, Oxford Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main ga ...

, Huston began a career in book publishing, first at

Chatto & Windus Chatto & Windus is an imprint of Penguin Random House that was formerly an independent book publishing company founded in London in 1855 by John Camden Hotten. Following Hotten's death, the firm would reorganize under the names of his busines ...

and then at

Weidenfeld & Nicolson Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd (established 1949), often shortened to W&N or Weidenfeld, is a British publisher of fiction and reference books. It has been a division of the French-owned Orion Publishing Group since 1991. History George Weidenfeld ...

, where she was editorial director from 1990 to 1994. After two years as Acquisition and Development Consultant at

Pathe Films Pathe or Pathé may refer to: * Pathé, a French company established in 1896 * Pathé Exchange, U.S. division of the French film company that was spun off into an independent entity * Pathé News, a French and British distributor of cinema newsr ...

, London, she left to write and edit as a freelancer. Articles by Huston have appeared in numerous publications, including ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

Tatler ''Tatler'' (stylised in all caps) is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications. It focuses on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper and upper-middle c ...

The Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. Founded in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first published i ...

YOU In Modern English, the word "''you''" is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers. History ''You'' comes from ...

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

, ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...

'', ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

Mothering A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestatio ...

,'' and ''

People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

''. She was on the editorial staff of the biannual art and culture magazine ''Garage'' for seven years. Huston teaches regular writing workshops, and has taught at the University of Oklahoma and the

Arvon Foundation The Arvon Foundation is a charitable organisation in the United Kingdom that promotes creative writing. Arvon is one of Arts Council England's National Portfolio Organisations. Andrew Kidd is the Chief Executive Officer, and Patricia Cumper is ...

. In 2023 she was invited to hold a guest masterclass for graduate students in the University of Iowa Writing Program (Iowa Writers' Workshop).

Personal

Huston is the mother of a son, Rafael.

Published works

*''Love Child: A Memoir of Family Lost and Found'', published in April 2009 by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

(US) and

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...

(UK). *''Say My Name: A Novel'' (London: HQ, July 2017; New York: MIRA, January 2018), republished in paperback as ''A STOLEN SUMMER'' (2019) * ''Write What You Don't Know: 10 Steps to Writing with Confidence, Energy, and Flow'' (with James Navé) *Twice 5 Miles Guides: ''How to Edit and Be Edited'' and ''How to Read for an Audience'' (with James Navé)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Huston, Allegra 1964 births English emigrants to the United States English women novelists Living people American women screenwriters English screenwriters English editors Writers from Taos, New Mexico Writers from London 21st-century British novelists 21st-century American women writers Allegra American writers of Italian descent English people of Italian descent Alumni of Hertford College, Oxford English people of American descent Daughters of viscounts Screenwriters from New Mexico 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century British screenwriters 21st-century English women 21st-century English writers