Wendy Perriam is a British novelist, whose work often reflects her strict convent background, against which she rebelled sharply, and her stories contain much explicit sexual content. She has also appeared frequently on radio and TV.
Career
Wendy Perriam is a British novelist and graduate of
St Anne's College, Oxford
St Anne's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. ...
, who started writing at the age of five and wrote her first novel at eleven. Perriam then went silent as she struggled through a long period of depression and physical illness, having been expelled from her
Catholic school
Catholic schools are Parochial school, parochial pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest parochial schools, religious, no ...
for heresy and told she was in Satan's power. Many of her early novels explore the perils and, conversely, the great attractions of
Catholicism
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
. Perriam's work is also renowned for its explicit sexual content.
In 2002, after being nominated for both two preceding prizes, she won
''Literary Review''s Bad Sex in Fiction Award for ''Tread softly''.
Perriam has appeared frequently on television and radio, and was once a regular contributor to the radio series ''
Stop the Week'' and ''Fourth Column''. She has also written for a wide variety of newspapers and magazines, and appeared at many leading literary festivals. Her work has been critically acclaimed for its psychological insight and for its power to disturb as well as divert. She was described by the ''
Sunday Telegraph
''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, first published on 5 February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegr ...
'' as "one of the most underrated writers in the country",
and the ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
'' stated "her gift for humour has been likened to that of
Kingsley Amis
Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social crit ...
".
Her 16th novel, ''Broken Places'', published in paperback in 2012, was shortlisted for 2011 'Mind Book of the Year' award. In January 2013, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate for her "outstanding contribution to literature and reading pleasure", by
Kingston University
Kingston University London is a Public university, public research university located within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, in South London, South West London, England. Its roots go back to the Kingston Technical Institute, founded ...
, which houses her archive.
Personal life
Perriam has been twice married and has two stepchildren. Her own daughter - and only child, after two miscarriages - died of cancer in 2008. Perriam lives in London.
Bibliography
Novels
* ''Absinthe for Elevenses'' (1980)
* ''Cuckoo'' (1981)
* ''After Purple'' (1982)
* ''Born of Woman'' (1983)
* ''The Stillness the Dancing'' (1985)
* ''Sin City'' (1987)
* ''Devils, for a Change'' (1989)
* ''Fifty-Minute Hour'' (1990)
* ''Bird Inside'' (1992)
* ''Michael, Michael'' (1993)
* ''Breaking and Entering'' (1994)
* ''Coupling'' (1996)
* ''Second Skin'' (1999)
* ''Lying'' (2001)
* ''Tread Softly'' (2002)
* ''Broken Places'' (2010)
* ''An Enormous Yes'' (2013)
* ''The Tender Murderer'' (2017)
* ''Sing for Life'' (2019)
Short Story Collections
* ''Dreams, Demons and Desire'' (2001)
* ''Virgin in the Gym'' (2004)
* ''Laughter Class'' (2006)
* ''The Biggest Female in the World'' (2007)
* ''Little Marvel'' (2008)
* ''The Queen's Margarine'' (2009)
* '' 'I'm on the train!' ''(2012)
* ''Bad Mothers Brilliant Lovers'' (2015)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perriam, Wendy
Living people
Writers from London
English women novelists
Year of birth missing (living people)
Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford