Rose Tremain

Dame Rose Tremain (born 2 August 1943) is an English novelist, short story writer, and former Chancellor of the University of East Anglia.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Life

Rose Tremain was born Rosemary Jane Thomson on 2 August 1943 in London to Viola Mabel Thomson and Keith Nicholas Home Thomson.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> Her paternal great-grandfather is William Thomson, who was Archbishop of York from 1862 to 1890.<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref>

She was educated at Francis Holland School, Crofton Grange School, the Sorbonne (1961–1962) and the University of East Anglia (BA, English Literature).<ref name="Rustin">Template:Cite news</ref> She later went on to teach creative writing at the University of East Anglia from 1988 to 1995, and was appointed Chancellor in 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

She married Jon Tremain in 1971 and they had one daughter. The marriage lasted about five years. Her second marriage, to theatre director Jonathan Dudley, in 1982, lasted about nine years; and she has been in a relationship with Richard Holmes since 1992.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> She lives in Thorpe St Andrew near Norwich in Norfolk.<ref>Author Notes from 2002 Vintage edition of Sacred County.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Norfolk novelist Rose Tremain receives damehood from Queen Retrieved 24/6/22.</ref>

Writing

Her influences include William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies, and Gabriel García Márquez's 1967 novel 100 Years of Solitude and the magical realism style.<ref name=":0" />

She is a historical novelist who approaches her subjects "from unexpected angles, concentrating her attention on unglamorous outsiders".<ref name="Rustin"/>

In 2009, she donated the short story The Jester of Astapovo to Oxfam's "Ox-Tales" project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the "Earth" collection.<ref>Oxfam: Ox-Tales Template:Webarchive</ref>

She became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1983.<ref name=":1" /> Already Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), Tremain was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to writing.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

Awards and honours

• 1984 Dylan Thomas Prize<ref name=":1" />
• 1984 Giles Cooper Award, Temporary Shelter (play)
• 1989 Sunday Express Book of the Year, Restoration<ref name=":1" />
• 1989 Booker Prize, shortlist, Restoration<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1992 James Tait Black Memorial Prize, Sacred Country<ref name=":1" />
• 1994 Prix Femina Étranger, Sacred Country<ref name=":1" />
• 1999 Whitbread Award, Music and Silence<ref name=":1" />
• 2008 Orange Prize, The Road Home<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 2012 Wellcome Book Prize, shortlist, Merivel: A Man of His Time<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2013 Walter Scott Prize, shortlist, Merivel: A Man of His Time<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2016 National Jewish Book Award for The Gustav Sonata<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2016 Costa Book Awards (novel), shortlist, The Gustav Sonata<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 2017 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction, longlist, The Gustav Sonata<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2017 Ribalow Prize for The Gustav Sonata<ref name="2017Fiction">Template:Cite news</ref>
• 2024 Walter Scott Prize, shortlist, Absolutely and Forever<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Selected bibliography

Novels

• Sadler's Birthday (1976), Template:ISBN
• Letter to Sister Benedicta (1978), Template:ISBN
• The Cupboard (1981), Template:ISBN
• Journey to the Volcano (1985), Template:ISBN
• The Swimming Pool Season (1985), Template:ISBN
• Restoration (1989), Template:ISBN
• Sacred Country (1992), Template:ISBN
• The Way I Found Her (1997), Template:ISBN
• Music and Silence (1999), Template:ISBN
• The Colour (2003), Template:ISBN
• The Road Home (2008), Template:ISBN
• Trespass (2010 W.W. Norton), Template:ISBN
• Merivel: A Man of His Time (2012), Template:ISBN
• The Gustav Sonata (2016), Template:ISBN
• Islands of Mercy (2020), Template:ISBN
• Lily: A Tale of Revenge (2021), Template:ISBN
• Absolutely & Forever (2023), Template:ISBN

Collections of short stories

• The Colonel's Daughter and other stories (1983)
• The Garden of the Villa Mollini and other stories (1987)
• Evangelista's Fan and Other Stories (1994)
• The Darkness of Wallis Simpson and other stories (2006)
• The American Lover (2014)

For children

• Journey to the Volcano (1985)

Memoir

• Rosie: Scenes from a Vanished Life (2018)

External links

• Susanna Rustin, "Costume dramatist", The Guardian, 10 May 2003.
• Blake Wilson, "Stray Questions for: Rose Tremain" (interview), The New York Times, 15 May 2009.
• Sian Cain, "Costa book award 2016 shortlists dominated by female writers", The Guardian, 22 November 2016.