Helen Simpson (born 1957) is an English novelist and short story writer.

Early life and education

She was born in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, in the West of England, and grew up first in

Wealdstone Wealdstone () is a district located in the centre of the London Borough of Harrow, England. It is located just north of Harrow, London, Harrow town centre and is south of Harrow Weald, west of Belmont, Harrow, Belmont and Kenton, London, Kenton, ...

then in a suburb of

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

where she went to a girls' school. Her mother was a primary-school teacher and her father was a naval architect who later taught. The first from her family to go to university, she read English at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

where she wrote a thesis on Restoration farce.

Career

She worked at ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

'' for five years before her success in writing short stories meant she could afford to leave and concentrate full-time on her writing. Her first collection, ''Four Bare Legs in a Bed and Other Stories'', 1990, won the Somerset Maugham Award and the

Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award The ''Sunday Times'' Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award is a literary prize awarded to a British author under the age of 35 for a published work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry. It is administered by the Society of Authors and has ...

, and was followed by a second collection, ''Dear George'', in 1995. ''Hey Yeah Right Get A Life'', 2000, a series of interlinked stories, won the

Hawthornden Prize The Hawthornden Prize is a British literary award given annually to a British, Irish or British-based author for a work of "imaginative literature" – including poetry, novels, history, biography and creative non-fiction – published in the pre ...

, and was renamed ''Getting a Life'' for its US publication. She was awarded the E.M. Forster Award in 2002 by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her most recent story collections are: ''Constitutional'' (2005), renamed ''In the Driver's Seat'' for its US publication; ''In-Flight Entertainment'' (2010); and ''Cockfosters'' (2015). ''A Bunch of Fives: Selected Stories'' was published in 2012. In 1993, she was selected as one of

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story's supreme ability to describe, illuminate and make ...

's top 20 novelists under the age of 40. In 2007, she published ''

Homework Homework is a set of tasks assigned to students by their teachers to be completed at home. Common homework assignments may include required reading, a writing or typing project, Exercise (mathematics), math problems to be completed, informatio ...

'' short story. In 2009, she donated the short story ''The Tipping Point'' to Oxfam's '

Ox-Tales ''Ox-Tales'' refers to four anthologies of short stories written by 38 of the UK's best-known authors. All donated their stories to Oxfam. The books and stories are loosely based on the four elements: ''Earth'', ''Fire'', ''Air'' and ''Water' ...

' project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the 'Air' collection. She was a writer-in-residence for the charity

First Story First Story is an English charity that encourages children and young people to write creatively, outside the curriculum, for self-expression and pleasure. Its aim is to empower children and young people from low-income communities to find and dev ...

. Many of her stories have been broadcast on

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

, including ''Café Society'' and ''Hurrah for the Hols'' read by

Tamsin Greig Tamsin Margaret Mary Greig (; born 12 July 1966) is a British actress. She is known for both dramatic and comedic roles. She played Fran Katzenjammer in the Channel 4 sitcom '' Black Books'', Dr Caroline Todd in the Channel 4 sitcom '' Green W ...

and abridged and produced by Amber Barnfather. In 2011, she was awarded a PEN/O.Henry Prize for her story "Diary of an Interesting Year". She 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 1996.

References

Sources

*Mslexia—Issue 35 *Short Fiction in Theory and Practice Volume 1 Number 1

External links

Official websiteBiography
at Contemporary Writers
Helen Simpson
at BBC World Service * {{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Helen 1959 births Living people English short story writers Writers from Bristol Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English women writers 21st-century English women writers British women short story writers English women novelists 20th-century British short story writers 21st-century British short story writers