Anton Gill (born in 1948) is a British writer of historical fiction and nonfiction. He won the H. H. Wingate Award for non-fiction for ''The Journey Back From Hell'', an account of the lives of survivors after their liberation from Nazi concentration camps.

Personal life

Gill was born in

Ilford, Essex Ilford is a large town in East London, England, northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a population of 168,168 in 2011, compared to 303,858 for the ...

, and educated at

Chigwell School Chigwell School is a co-educational independent boarding and day school. It is a private school in Chigwell, in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It consists of a Pre Prep (ages 4–7), Prep School (ages 7–11), Senior School (ages 11–16 ...

and

Clare College Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. He started writing professionally in 1984 after fifteen years in the theatre. He lives in London with his wife, the actress

Marji Campi Marji Campi (born 19 October 1938) is a British actress, known for her roles as Dulcie Froggatt in ''Coronation Street'' (1984–1987), Joyce Watson in '' Surgical Spirit'' (1989–1995) and Jessie Hilton in ''Brookside'' (1998–2002). Born in ...

. Other than writing, his chief interests are travel and art.

Career

Gill worked as an actor and director in the theatre (especially at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opene ...

in London), for the

Arts Council An arts council is a government or private non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts; mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing arts events. They often operate at arms-length from the government to prevent pol ...

, and for the BBC and

TV-am TV-am was a TV company that broadcast the ITV franchise for breakfast television in the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 until 31 December 1992. The station was the UK's first national operator of a commercial breakfast television franchise ...

(as writer and producer) before turning to full-time writing. He has been a full-time professional writer since 1984. He has published over 40 books on a variety of ancient and contemporary historical subjects, including three biographies. His work includes both fiction and non-fiction, where his special field is contemporary European history. In fiction, he has written a series of historical mysteries set in

Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

, during the Amarna Period. These stories feature "the world's first private eye", the scribe, Huy, and have been published worldwide. Titles in the Huy series are ''City of the Horizon'' (1991), ''City of Dreams'' (1993), and ''City of the Dead'' (1994).Montserrat, Dominic. ''Akhenaten : History, Fantasy and Ancient Egypt''.Hoboken : Taylor and Francis, 2014. (pg. 164) More recently, he published ''The Sacred Scroll'', a history-mystery, with Penguin. He is also the author of two major biographies, on ''

William Dampier William Dampier (baptised 5 September 1651; died March 1715) was an English explorer, pirate, privateer, navigator, and naturalist who became the first Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia, and the first person to circumnavig ...

'' and ''

Peggy Guggenheim Marguerite "Peggy" Guggenheim ( ; August 26, 1898 – December 23, 1979) was an American art collector, bohemianism, bohemian, and socialite. Born to the wealthy New York City Guggenheim family, she was the daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim, who we ...

'', and a study of

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...

, ''Il Gigante''. His most recent titles are the novels ''City of Gold'' (Penguin), ''The Accursed'' (Piatkus), and ''Into Darkness'' (Endeavour; Sharpe), ''Lost and Found'' - trilogy (Sharpe), ''The Darkest Trap''.

Bibliography

;Non-fiction *''The Journey Back from Hell'' (1988); eBook reissue (2015) *''A Dance between Flames'' *''An Honourable Defeat'' *''Berlin to Bucharest'' *''The Devil's Mariner'' *''Art Addict'' Fiction: *''The Egyptian Mysteries'' *''The Sacred Scroll'' *''City of Gold'' *''The Accursed'' *''Into Darkness'' *'' Assassin's Creed: Renaissance'' (2009, as Oliver Bowden) *'' Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood'' (2010, as Oliver Bowden) *'' Assassin's Creed: Revelations'' (2011, as Oliver Bowden)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gill, Anton 1948 births Living people 20th-century English writers Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge English historical novelists English mystery writers Writers of historical fiction set in antiquity Writers of historical mysteries