Martyn Bedford (born 1959) is a British novelist and literary critic.

Life and career

He is an alumnus of 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 ...

. The first twelve years of Martyn Bedford's writing career were spent as a journalist on regional newspapers, notably at the ''

Bradford Telegraph and Argus The ''Telegraph & Argus'' is the daily newspaper for Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is published six times each week, from Monday to Saturday inclusive. The newspaper has offices in Newhall Way, Bradford, from where its journalists work ...

''. His initial book ''Acts of Revision'' won the ''

Yorkshire Post ''The Yorkshire Post'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. It primarily covers stories from Yorkshire, although its masthead carries the slogan "Yorkshire's National Newspaper". It was previously owned by ...

'' “Best First Work” Award. He later became the director of the novel writing programme at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

, and is fiction critic for the ''

Literary Review ''Literary Review'' is a British literary magazine founded in 1979 by Anne Smith, then head of the Department of English at the University of Edinburgh. Its offices are on Lexington Street in Soho. The magazine was edited for fourteen years b ...

''. Currently, Bedford teaches the Creative Writing module at

Leeds Trinity University Leeds Trinity University is a public university in Horsforth, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Originally established to provide qualified teachers to Catholic schools, it gradually expanded and now offers foundation, undergraduate, and postgr ...

. In 2008–10, he was Academic Writer-in-Residence, Royal Literary Fund Fellow. Bedford lives in

Ilkley Ilkley is a spa town and civil parish in the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, in Northern England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Ilkley civil parish includes the adjacent village of Ben Rhydding and is a ward within ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, with his wife and two daughters.

Awards and honours

* 2011:

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

, shortlist, ''Flip''

Bibliography

* ''Acts of Revision'' (Doubleday, 1996) * ''Exit, Orange & Red'' (Bantam, 1997) * ''The Houdini Girl'' (Random House, 1999) * ''Black Cat'' (Viking, 2000) * ''The Virtual Disappearance of Miriam'' (digital narrative, 2000) * ''The Island of Lost Souls'' (Bloomsbury, 2006) * ''Flip'' (Walker, 2011) * ''Never Ending'' (Walker, 2014) * ''Twenty Questions for Gloria'' (Walker, 2016)

References

External links

Official website
1959 births Living people English male journalists 21st-century English novelists People from Ilkley Alumni of the University of East Anglia Academics of the University of Manchester People associated with Leeds Trinity University English male short story writers English short story writers English male novelists 21st-century British short story writers 21st-century English male writers {{UK-journalist-stub