Peter Benson (born 1956) is the author of novels, plays, short stories and poetry, and has been described by the ''

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'' as having "one of the most distinctive voices in modern British fiction".

Career

He has won a number of prizes for his work, including the

Guardian Fiction Prize The Guardian Fiction Prize was a literary award sponsored by ''The Guardian'' newspaper. Founded in 1965 by the ''Guardians Literary Editor, W.L. Webb, and chaired by him until 1987, it recognized one fiction book per year written by a British ...

, the

Encore Award The £15,000 Encore Award for the best second novel was first awarded in 1990. It is sponsored by Lucy Astor, presented by the Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King Ge ...

and 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 ...

, and was awarded a Society of Authors Travelling Scholarship in 1994.

Personal life

Benson is father to a daughter, Ella (born 1995), by poet

Carol Ann Duffy Dame Carol Ann Duffy (born 23 December 1955) is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is a professor of contemporary poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009, and her term expired in 2019. She wa ...

who was in a relationship with novelist and poet

Jackie Kay Jacqueline Margaret Kay (born 9 November 1961) is a Scottish poet, playwright, and novelist, known for her works ''Other Lovers'' (1993), ''Trumpet'' (1998) and ''Red Dust Road'' (2011). Kay has won many awards, including the Somerset Maugham A ...

Awards

* ''The Levels'' – Winner,

Authors' Club Best First Novel Award The Authors' Club Best First Novel Award is awarded by the Authors' Club to the most promising first novel of the year, written by a British author and published in the UK during the calendar year preceding the year in which the award is presente ...

* ''The Levels'' – Winner,

Betty Trask Prize The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are for first novels written by authors under the age of 35 who reside in a current or former Commonwealth nation. Each year the awards total at least , with normally one author receiving a larger prize amount ( ...

* ''The Levels'' – Shortlisted,

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

* ''The Levels'' – Shortlisted, The

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* ''A Lesser Dependency'' – Winner,

* ''The Other Occupant'' – Winner,

* ''Society of Authors'' – Awarded, Travelling Scholarship 1994 * ''Two Cows and a Vanful of Smoke'' – Selected,

Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize The Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize was a promotional initiative and literary award for British writers of outstanding works of fiction. History Fiction Uncovered was established as a promotional tool in 2010 by The Literary Platform, supported b ...

2012

Bibliography

Novels

* 1987, ''The Levels'' (Constable, Penguin) * 1989, ''A Lesser Dependency'' (Macmillan, Penguin) * 1990, ''The Other Occupant'' (Macmillan, Penguin) * 1993, ''Odo's Hanging'' (Hodder & Stoughton) * 1994, ''Riptide'' (Hodder & Stoughton) * 1995, ''A Private Moon'' (Hodder & Stoughton) * 1997, ''The Shape of Clouds'' (Hodder & Stoughton) * 2011, ''Two Cows and a Vanful of Smoke'' (Alma Books) * 2012, ''Isabel's Skin'' (Alma Books) * 2017, ''The South in Winter'' (Alma Books) * 2020, ''The Stromness Dinner'' (Seren) * 2022, ''Kidnap Fury of the Smoking Lovers'' (Seren)

Plays

* 2013, ''The Two Friends'' with Alessandro Gallenzi (Calder Publications)

Short stories

* 1987, ''Jude'': Winter's Tales 3 (Constable) * 1988, ''Alan'': Winter's Tales 4 (Constable) * 1988, ''Rajastan, 1987'': 20 Under 35 (Picador) * 1990, ''Gates of Swimming'': Winter's Tales 6 (Constable) * 2000, ''Dominion'': New Writing 9 (Vintage)

References

1956 births English male novelists 20th-century English novelists 21st-century English novelists 20th-century English male writers 21st-century English male writers Living people {{England-novelist-stub