Terence Blacker

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person Terence Blacker Template:Post-nominals (born 5 February 1948) is an English songwriter, author and columnist.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Early life and education

Blacker was born near Hadleigh, Suffolk. He is the son of General Sir Cecil Blacker, and the brother of sculptor and former jockey Philip Blacker.

He grew up on the family farm in Suffolk. He attended Hawtreys preparatory school and Wellington College, before reading English at Trinity College, Cambridge, whence he graduated in 1969.

Life and work

Blacker began his working life in horse-racing and as an amateur jockey.<ref name=writers_online> {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Subsequently, he worked in publishing for 10 years during the 1970s and 1980s,<ref name=writers_online /> where he was responsible for overseeing the publication of works by Jerzy Kosinski.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Blacker became a full-time writer in 1983 and has written children's books and mysteries for adults. His first children's book, If I Could Work, was published in 1987 and his first adult novel, FIXX, won critical acclaim and was described by The Guardian as a "tour de force". He is an active member of English PEN, and is also an EAW member.

He writes the "Endpaper" for The Author. For many years, he wrote the "Harvey Porlock" column in The Sunday Times, as well as a column about the book business for Publishing News.<ref name=writers_online /> His regular writing for The Independent, newspaper, usually consisting of twice-weekly columns, came to an end in December 2013 after nearly 16 years.<ref>Blacker, Terence (16 December 2013), "By all means 'prepare' for old age. But don’t forget to live in the present", The Independent.</ref>

Blacker was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2017.<ref>Onwuemezi, Natasha, "Rankin, McDermid and Levy named new RSL fellows", The Bookseller, 7 June 2017.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal life

In 1975 he married Caroline Soper, youngest daughter of the radical Methodist minister Donald Soper (div. 2001). They have two children, Xan and Alice. Blacker's partner is now Angela Sykes.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Publications

  • Adult books
    • Fixx (Bloomsbury, 1989), Template:ISBN
    • The Fame Hotel (Bloomsbury, 1992), Template:ISBN
    • Revenance (Bloomsbury, 1996), Template:ISBN
    • Kill Your Darlings (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2000), Template:ISBN
    • You Cannot Live as I Have Lived and Not End Up Like This: The Thoroughly Disgraceful Life and Times of Willie Donaldson (Ebury, 2007), Template:ISBN
  • Children's books

See also

Template:Portal

References

Template:Reflist

Template:Authority control

Retrieved from "https://wiki.sarg.dev/index.php?title=Terence_Blacker&oldid=620687"