Clive John Sinclair (19 February 1948 – 5 March 2018)Bryan Cheyette
"Clive Sinclair, 1948–2018"
''TLS'', 6 March 2018. was a British author who published several award-winning novels and collections of short stories, including ''Hearts of Gold'' (1979), ''Bedbugs'' (1982) and ''The Lady with the Laptop'' (1996).

Biography

Sinclair, who was born into a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family originally named Smolensky, grew up in

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the London Borough of Barnet, northwest London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient Manorialism, manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has ...

, North London, and was educated at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

(BA, PhD), the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of C ...

, and at the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of ...

. Although his writing career began with short stories that appeared in magazines and journals, his first book was a novel – ''Bibliosexuality'' – which was published in 1973 by

Allison and Busby Allison & Busby (A & B) is a publishing house based in London established by Clive Allison and Margaret Busby in 1967. The company has built up a reputation as a leading independent publisher. Background Launching as a publishing company in May ...

.Matthew Asprey
"El Hombre Valeroso: An Interview with Clive Sinclair"
''Los Angeles Review of Books'', 18 December 2012. As he said in a 2012 interview: "The truth is I've always been a short story writer rather than a novelist. ''Bibliosexuality'' was originally a collection of short stories about a certain David Drollkind.

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's then youngest publisher as well as the first black female book p ...

said she would publish it, if I could find a way of linking them. That's how it became a novel." Sinclair went on to become better known as a writer of short stories, with his next book, the 1981 collection ''Hearts of Gold'', winning him the

Somerset Maugham Award The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each year by the Society of Authors The Society of Authors (SoA) is a United Kingdom trade union for professional writers, illustrators and literary translators, founded in 1884 to ...

. In 1983, he was recognised in ''Granta''′s list of Best Young British Novelists. He subsequently published several novels and collections of shorter fiction, in addition to non-fiction, such as biography and travel writing. His stories, interviews, travel pieces and reviews appeared in a wide range of publications, including '' Encounter'', ''The Year’s Best Horror Stories'', ''New Review'', ''

London Magazine ''The London Magazine'' is the title of six different publications that have appeared in succession since 1732. All six have focused on the arts, literature and poetry. A number of Nobel Laureates, including Annie Ernaux, Albert Camus, Doris L ...

'', '' Penthouse'', ''

Club International ''Club International'' is a monthly British adult magazine published by Paul Raymond Publications that features softcore pictures of nude women. It is a sister magazine of the American magazine ''Club''. History and profile ''Club International' ...

'', ''

Transatlantic Review Transatlantic, Trans-Atlantic or TransAtlantic may refer to: Film * Transatlantic Pictures, a film production company from 1948 to 1950 * Transatlantic Enterprises, an American production company in the late 1970s * ''Transatlantic'' (1931 film) ...

'', ''

Lilith Lilith (; ), also spelled Lilit, Lilitu, or Lilis, is a feminine figure in Mesopotamian and Jewish mythology, theorized to be the first wife of Adam and a primordial she-demon. Lilith is cited as having been "banished" from the Garden of Eden ...

'', ''Monat'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', ''

The Independent ''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 publis ...

'', '' Contrappasso Magazine''. and ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'' (TLS). Between 1983 and 1987, Sinclair was literary editor of ''

The Jewish Chronicle ''The Jewish Chronicle'' (''The JC'') is a London-based Jewish weekly newspaper. Founded in 1841, it is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world. Its editor () is Daniel Schwammenthal. The newspaper is published every Fri ...

'', and in 1988 he was 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 lang ...

Guest Writer-in-residence at the

University of Uppsala Uppsala University (UU) () is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially founded in the 15th century, the university rose to s ...

, Sweden.Clive Sinclair biography
, British Council. He had been the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

Penguin Writer's Fellow, as well as a visiting lecturer, most frequently at the

(UEA), but also at the

, his special subjects being

gothic fiction Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror (primarily in the 20th century), is a literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name of the genre is derived from the Renaissance era use of the word "gothic", as a pejorative to mean me ...

, creative writing,

detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an criminal investigation, investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around ...

, and

Holocaust literature The Holocaust has been a prominent subject of art and literature throughout the second half of the twentieth century. There is a wide range of ways–including dance, film, literature, music, and television–in which the Holocaust has been repre ...

. His other books include ''A Soap Opera From Hell: Essays on the Facts of Life and the Facts of Death'' (1998), ''Clive Sinclair's True Tales of the Wild West'' (2008), and ''Death & Texas'' (2014). Sinclair was elected a fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

in 1983. Sinclair died in March 2018, aged 70. A posthumous collection of his work, entitled ''Shylock Must Die'' – based on the character

Shylock Shylock () is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's play '' The Merchant of Venice'' ( 1600). A Venetian Jewish moneylender, Shylock is the play's principal villain. His defeat and forced conversion to Christianity form the climax ...

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's ''

The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan taken out on behalf of his dear friend, Bassanio, and provided by a ...

'' – was published in July 2018.

Personal life

In 1979 Sinclair married Fran (née Redhouse), a special needs teacher, with whom he had a son, Seth; she died at the age of 46. For the last 20 years of Sinclair's life his partner was artist Haidee Becker.

Selected bibliography

*''Bibliosexuality: A novel''. London:

, 1973. *''Hearts of Gold'' (short stories). London: Allison and Busby, 1979. *''Bedbugs'' (short stories). London: Allison and Busby, 1982. *''The Brothers Singer'' (a biography of

Isaac Bashevis Singer Isaac Bashevis Singer (; 1903 – July 24, 1991) was a Poland, Polish-born Jews, Jewish novelist, short-story writer, memoirist, essayist, and translator in the United States. Some of his works were adapted for the theater. He wrote and publish ...

, I. J. Singer, and

Esther Kreitman Hinde Ester Singer Kreytman (31 March 1891 – 13 June 1954), known in English as Esther Kreitman, was a Yiddish-language novelist and short story writer. She was born in Biłgoraj, Vistula Land to a rabbinic Jewish family. Her younger brothers ...

). London; Allison & Busby (distributed in the US by Schocken Books), 1983. *''Blood Libels'' (novel). London: Allison and Busby, 1985. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1986. *''Cosmetic Effects'' (novel). London, 1991. *''Augustus Rex: A Novel''. London: Andre Deutsch, 1992. *''The Lady with the Laptop and Other Stories''. London:

Picador A ''picador'' (; pl. ''picadores'') is one of the pair of horse-mounted bullfighters in a Spanish-style bullfight that jab the bull with a lance. They perform in the ''tercio de varas'', which is the first of the three stages in a stylized bull ...

, 1996. *''For Good or Evil: Collected Stories''. London: Picador, 1998. *''A Soap Opera From Hell: Essays on the Facts of Life and the Facts of Death''. London: Picador, 1998. *''Meet the Wife'' (novel). London: Picador, 2002. *''Clive Sinclair's True Tales of the Wild West'' (travel). London: Picador, 2008. *''Death & Texas'' (short stories). London: Halban Publishers, 2014. *''Shylock Must Die'' (short stories). London: Halban Publishers, 2018.

Awards

* 1981:

(''Hearts of Gold'') * 1997:

Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize The Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Literary Prize is an annual British literary prize inaugurated in 1977. It is named after the host ''Jewish Quarterly'' and the prize's founder Harold Hyam Wingate. The award recognises Jewish and non-Jewish writers ...

(''The Lady with the Laptop and Other Stories'') * 1997: Macmillan Silver Pen Award (''The Lady with the Laptop and Other Stories'')

References

External links

Guy Woodward, "Clive Sinclair"
Literature – British Council. * Matthew Asprey Gear
"El Hombre Valeroso: An Interview with Clive Sinclair"
''Contrappasso Magazine'', 25 July 2017.

British Library, 20 January 2014.
"Criminally Neglected Authors: Clive Sinclair and his ‘Bedbugs’ (1982)"
''Lion and the Hunter'', 21 May 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sinclair, Clive 1948 births 2018 deaths Alumni of the University of East Anglia University of California, Santa Cruz alumni Jewish British novelists Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature 20th-century British novelists British male short story writers Alumni of the University of Essex People from Hendon Writers from the London Borough of Barnet