Nicholas Murray is a British literary biographer, poet and journalist.

Career

Nicholas Murray is a freelance author based in Wales and London. Born in Liverpool in 1952, he was educated at St Mary’s College, Crosby, and graduated from Liverpool University in 1973 in English Language and Literature. He is the author of several literary biographies including lives of

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley ( ; 26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. His bibliography spans nearly 50 books, including non-fiction novel, non-fiction works, as well as essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the ...

Bruce Chatwin Charles Bruce Chatwin (13 May 194018 January 1989) was an English travel writer, novelist and journalist. His first book, ''In Patagonia'' (1977), established Chatwin as a travel writer, although he considered himself instead a storytelling, s ...

Andrew Marvell Andrew Marvell (; 31 March 1621 – 16 August 1678) was an English metaphysical poet, satirist and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1659 and 1678. During the Commonwealth period he was a colleague and friend ...

and

Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold (academic), Tom Arnold, literary professor, and Willi ...

, several collections of poems, and two novels. His biography of Matthew Arnold was a

New York Times Notable Book of the Year ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

in 1997 and his biography of Aldous Huxley was shortlisted for the

Marsh Biography Award {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 The Marsh Biography Award was a British literary award, given to the author of the best biography written in the previous two years by a British author. It was established in 1987 and was presented biennially until ...

in 2003. His biography of Franz Kafka has been translated into nine languages. He is a regular contributor of poems, essays and reviews to a wide range of newspapers and literary magazines. In 1996 he was the inaugural Gladys Krieble Delmas Fellow at 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 ...

Centre for the Book and he is a Fellow of the

Welsh Academy Literature Wales, formerly named the Academi, is the Welsh national literature promotion agency and society of writers, existing to promote Welsh-language literature, Welsh-language and Welsh literature in English, English-language literature i ...

and vice-chair of

English PEN Founded in 1921, English PEN is one of the world's first non-governmental organisations and among the first international bodies advocating for human rights. English PEN was the founding centre of PEN International, a worldwide writers' associa ...

’s Writers in Translation Committee. He has lectured at literary festivals and universities in Britain, Europe and the United States. From 2003-2007 he was

Royal Literary Fund The Royal Literary Fund (RLF) is a benevolent fund that gives assistance to published British writers in financial difficulties. Founded in 1790, and granted a royal charter in 1818, the Fund has helped an extensive roll of authors through its lon ...

Fellow at Queen Mary University, London and from 2010-2011 an RLF Fellow at

King's College, London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

. He is a tutor in biography and creative non-fiction at the

City Literary Institute City Lit is an adult education college in Holborn, central London, founded by the London County Council in 1919, which has charitable status. It offers part-time courses across four schools and five "centres of expertise", covering humanities an ...

in London. ''So Spirited a Town: Visions and Versions of Liverpool'' was published by

Liverpool University Press Liverpool University Press (LUP), founded in 1899, is the third oldest university press in England after Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. As the press of the University of Liverpool, it specialises in modern languages, lit ...

in November 2007 and a book about the British Victorian travellers and explorers, ''A Corkscrew is Most Useful'', was published by

Little, Brown Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries, it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emil ...

in April 2008. In November 2010 his book about

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 ...

in the “Real” series was published: ''Real Bloomsbury'' ( Seren, ). His book about the British poets of the First World War, ''The Red Sweet Wine of Youth'' (Little, Brown) appeared in February 2011 and his verse broadside against the British coalition government, ''Get Real!'' also appeared in February 2011. In April 2012 ''Acapulco: New and Selected Poems'' appeared from Melos Press. His latest book is ''Of Earth, Water, Air and Fire: animal poems'' (Melos, 2013) Murray also runs a small poetry imprint, Rack Press, and writes the Bibliophilicblogger literary blog. In August 2015, Murray was one of 20 authors of ''Poets for Corbyn'', an anthology of poems endorsing

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...

's campaign in the Labour Party leadership election.

Works

Literary Biographies * ''

'' (Border Lines, Seren, 1993) * ''A Life of

'' (Hodder & Stoughton, 1996) * ''After Arnold: Culture and Accessibility'' (British Library, 1997) * ''World Enough and Time: The Life of

'' (Little, Brown, 1999) * ''

: An English Intellectual'' (Little, Brown, 2002) * ''Kafka'' (Little, Brown, 2004) * ''The Red Sweet Wine of Youth: British Poets of the First World War'' (Little, Brown, 2011) * '' Bloomsbury and the Poets'' (Rack Press Editions, 2014) Poetry Collections * ''Plausible Fictions'' (Rack Press, 1995) * ''The Narrators'' (Rack Press, 2006) * ''Get Real!'' (Rack Press, 2011) * ''Acapulco: New and Selected Poems (''The Melos Press, 2012) * ''Of Earth, Water, Air and Fire: Animal Poems'' (The Melos Press, 2013) * ''Trench Feet (''Rack Press, 2014) * ''The Secrets of the Sea'' (The Melos Press, 2015) * ''The Migrant Ship'' (The Melos Press, 2016) * ''A Dog’s Brexit'' (The Melos Press, 2017) * ''The Museum of Truth'' (The Melos Press, 2018) * ''The Yellow Wheelbarrow'' (The Melos Press, 2019) * ''A Quartet in Winter'' ''(''Rack Press, 2020) * ''City Lights'' (The Melos Press, 2021) * ''Elsewhere: Collected Poems of Nicholas Murray'' (The Melos Press, 2022) * ''The Dictionary Speaks'' (The Melos Press, 2023) Fiction *''A Short Book About Love'' ( Seren, 2001) *''Remembering Carmen'' ( Seren, 2003) Non-fiction *''So Spirited A Town: Visions and Versions of

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

'' (Liverpool University Press, 2007) *''A Corkscrew Is Most Useful: The Travellers of Empire'' (Little, Brown, 2008) *''

Real Bloomsbury ''Real Bloomsbury'' is a 2010 local oral history book by Nicholas Murray (biographer), Nicholas Murray on the district of Bloomsbury in the London Borough of Camden Synopsis Murray walks around the historic square mile of the Bloomsbury area am ...

'' ( Seren, 2010) *''Crossings: A Journey through Borders'' ( Seren, 2016) Contributions to Anthologies * ''The Poet’s View: poems for paintings in the

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History The Walker Art Gallery's collection dates from 1819 ...

, Liverpool'' ed Gladys Mary Coles (1996) * ''Other People’s Clerihews'' ed Gavin Ewart (Oxford University Press,1983) * ''The Robin Hood Book: verse versus austerity'' eds Alan Morrison and Angela Topping (Caparison, 2012) * ''Poets for Corbyn'', Bennetts, Russell (Pendant Publishing, 2015) * ''New Boots and Pantisocracies'' eds WN Herbert and Andy Jackson (Smokestack Books, 2016) * ''Poems for Jeremy Corbyn'' ed Merryn Williams (Shoestring, 2016) * ''Poems from the Borders'' ed Amy Wack ( Seren, 2019) * ''Ten Poems About Swimming'' ed Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch (Candlestick Press 2022)

References

External links

Official siteBibliophilic literary blogBiography
from Royal Literary Fund
''Kafka''
review in ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'', 13 Jun 2004
Blog review
of ''The Red Sweet Wine Of Youth''

from ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''
"Tremors of Implication "
from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''
''Real Bloomsbury''
blog {{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Nicholas Alumni of the University of Liverpool People educated at St Mary's College, Crosby English biographers Writers from Liverpool Living people English male journalists English male poets Year of birth missing (living people) British male biographers