Tim Pears (born 15 November 1956) is an English novelist. His novels explore social issues as they are processed through the dynamics of family relationships.

Biography

Although born in

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, Tim Pears grew up in the village of

Trusham Trusham is a small village and civil parish in the Teign Valley, between Newton Abbot and Exeter, in the Teignbridge district, in the county of Devon, England. The settlement was first recorded in the Domesday Book as ''Trisma'' in 1086, which ...

on the edge of

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, South West England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite that forms the uplands dates from the Carb ...

where his father was the rector. He left school at sixteen and worked in a wide variety of jobs: farm labourer, nurse in a mental hospital, painter and decorator, college night porter and many others. He also made short films, and in 1993 graduated from the Direction course at the

National Film and Television School The National Film and Television School (NFTS) is a film, television and games school established in 1971 and based at Beaconsfield Studios in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England. It is featured in the 2024 ranking by ''The Hollywood Repo ...

. He wrote the script for a feature film, ''Loop'', produced by

Michael Riley Michael Riley (born February 4, 1962) is a Canadian actor. From 1998 to 2000, he portrayed Brett Parker in ''Power Play (1998 TV series), Power Play''. He has acted in over 40 films and television series, including ''This Is Wonderland'', for wh ...

at Sterling Pictures released in 1999. He has had several features published in the ''

Observer Sport Monthly ''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'' ...

'' magazine. '' In a Land of Plenty'' was made into a ten-part drama series for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

by Sterling Pictures (with

TalkBack Productions Talkback Productions, commonly simplified to just Talkback (formerly known as Talkback-UK from 2003 to 2006), was a British television production company established in 1981 by comedy duo Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones. History Talkback was so ...

), broadcast in 2001. Tim Pears was Writer in Residence at Cheltenham Festival of Literature, 2002–03, and Royal Literary Fund Fellow at

Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (OBU; formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. Th ...

2006-08 and 2011-12. He has been a Writer in Residence for

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 ...

at Larkmead School in Abingdon, 2009-14. He has taught creative writing for the

Arvon Foundation The Arvon Foundation is a charitable organisation in the United Kingdom that promotes creative writing. Arvon is one of Arts Council England's National Portfolio Organisations. Andrew Kidd is the Chief Executive Officer, and Patricia Cumper is ...

, Oxford University, and

Ruskin College Ruskin College, originally known as Ruskin Hall, Oxford, is a higher education institution and part of the University of West London, in Oxford, England. It is not a Colleges of the University of Oxford, college of Oxford University. Named ...

, among others. In 2013 he 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 ...

. He lives in Oxford with his wife Hania and two children.

Bibliography

* '' In the Place of Fallen Leaves'' (1993) * ''In a Land of Plenty'' (1997) * ''A Revolution of the Sun'' (2000) * ''Wake Up'' (2002) * ''Blenheim Orchard'' (2007) * ''Landed'' (2010) * ''Disputed Land'' (2011) * ''In the Light of Morning'' (2013) * The West Country Trilogy ** ''The Horseman'' (2017) ** ''The Wanderers'' (2018) ** ''The Redeemed'' (2019) * ''Run to the Western Shore'' (2023)

Awards

* 1993

Ruth Hadden Memorial Award The Ruth Hadden Memorial Award is a former award for the best first novel published in Britain, which was administered by the Booktrust. It was awarded in the early 1990s and has now been discontinued. The award was unusual in that the prize was a ...

for ''In the Place of Fallen Leaves'' * 1994

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 ...

for ''In the Place of Fallen Leaves'' * 1996

Lannan Literary Award The Lannan Literary Awards are a series of awards and literary fellowships given out in various fields by the Lannan Foundation. Established in 1989, the awards are meant "to honor both established and emerging writers whose work is of exceptional ...

(Fiction) * 2011 Medical Journalists Association Book of the Year for ''Landed'' * 2011

Ondaatje Prize The Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize is an annual literary award given by the Royal Society of Literature. The £10,000 award is for a work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry that evokes the "spirit of a place", and is written by someo ...

short list for ''Landed'' * 2012

International Dublin Literary Award The International Dublin Literary Award (), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. It promotes excellence in world literature and is solely ...

short list for ''Landed''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pears, Tim 20th-century English novelists 21st-century English novelists Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature 1956 births Living people Academics of Oxford Brookes University People from Teignbridge (district) English male novelists 20th-century English male writers 21st-century English male writers