Sam Taylor (born 1970) is a British author, translator and former pop culture correspondent for ''

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'' ...

'', a job he left in 2001. His first book, ''The Republic of Trees'', was published in 2005 and received critical acclaim. His second novel, ''The Amnesiac'', tells the story of James Purdew, a man obsessed with uncovering the events of three years of his life about which he remembers nothing.Sam Taylor's top 10 books about forgetting guardian.co.uk April 18, 200

/ref> Taylor lives in Texas with his family. Taylor, along with Laurent Binet won the

Sidewise Award for Alternate History The Sidewise Awards for Alternate History were established in 1995 to recognize the best alternate history stories and novels of the year. Overview The awards take their name from the 1934 short story " Sidewise in Time" by Murray Leinster, in w ...

in 2022 for his translation of Binet's novel '' Civilizations''.

''The Amnesiac''

His 2007 book ''The Amnesiac'' includes the fictional main character James Purdew and a character named Tomas Ryal a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, who is described as living from 1900 to 1973 and is famous for his controversial repudiation of the existence of memory, and also for the mysterious manner of his death. It is assumed that he was pupil of a famous Czech pedagogist, philosopher and inventor Jára da Cimrman. Ryal was given an entry at the Encyclopedia Labyrinthus.Tomas Ryal's life story at the Encyclopedia Labyrinthus
/ref>

Bibliography

* ''The Republic of Trees'' (Faber, 2005) * ''The Amnesiac'' (Faber, 2007) * ''The Island at the End of the World'' (Faber, 2009) * ''The Ground is Burning'' - published as Samuel Black (Faber, 2011)The Literary Tourist Interviews Sam Taylor
/ref> * ''The Two Loves of Sophie Strom '' (Faber, 2024)

Translations

Taylor also works as a translator, from French to English. These are some of the works he has translated: * ''

HHhH ''HHhH'' is the debut novel of French author Laurent Binet, published in 2010 by Grasset & Fasquelle. The book is a metafictional novel depicting Operation Anthropoid, the assassination of Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich in Prague during World W ...

'' (by Laurent Binet) (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012) * ''A Meal in Winter'' (''Un repas en hiver'' by Hubert Mingarelli) (2012) * '' The Victoria System'' (Hamish Hamilton, 2013) * ''

The truth about the Harry Quebert affair ''The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair'' is a novel by Swiss author Joël Dicker. It was published in the United States on 27 May 2014, by Penguin Books. The original French version, ''La Vérité sur l’affaire Harry Quebert'', has sold m ...

'', (MacLehose Press, 2014) * '' The Age of Reinvention'', (L'invention de nos vies by Karine Tuil) (2015) * ''Four Soldiers'' (''Quatre Soldats'' by Hubert Mingarelli) (2018) * ''

Lullaby A lullaby (), or a cradle song, is a soothing song or piece of music that is usually played for (or sung to) children (for adults see music and sleep). The purposes of lullabies vary. In some societies, they are used to pass down cultural knowl ...

'' (''Chanson Douce'' by Leïla Slimani) (2018) * ''Adèle'' (''Dans le jardin de l'ogre'' by Leïla Slimani) (2019) * ''Civilizations'' (by Laurent Binet) (2021) * ''Of Fangs and Talons'' (''Aux animaux la guerre'' by Nicolas Mathieu) (2021) * ''Rose Royal: A Love Story'' (''Rose Royal'' by Nicolas Mathieu) (2022)

References

1970 births Living people 21st-century English male writers 21st-century English novelists English male novelists Sidewise Award winners Place of birth missing (living people) {{UK-translator-stub