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English biographer and journalist (born 1933)
Claire Tomalin
Tomalin, 2013
Born Claire Delavenay (1933-06-20 ) 20 June 1933 (age 90)
London , England Occupation Author, journalist Education
Hitchin Girls' School ;
Dartington Hall School Alma mater
Newnham College, Cambridge Notable works The Invisible Woman: The story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens (1990): Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self (2002)Spouse
(
m. 1955; died 1973)
Children 5
Claire Tomalin (née Delavenay ; born 20 June 1933) is an English journalist and biographer known for her biographies of
Charles Dickens ,
Thomas Hardy ,
Samuel Pepys ,
Jane Austen and
Mary Wollstonecraft .
Early life
Tomalin was born Claire Delavenay on 20 June 1933 in London, the daughter of English composer
Muriel Herbert and French academic Émile Delavenay.
[1]
[2]
Education
Tomalin was educated at
Hitchin Girls' Grammar School ,
[3] a former state grammar school in
Hitchin in
Hertfordshire , at
Dartington Hall School ,
[3] a former boarding-school in
Devon , and at
Newnham College at the
University of Cambridge .
[3]
[1]
Career
Since then she has published:
Tomalin organised two exhibitions about the
Regency actress
Mrs Jordan at
Kenwood House in 1995, and about
Mary Wollstonecraft and
Mary Shelley in 1997. In 2004 she unveiled a
blue plaque for Mary Wollstonecraft at 45 Dolben Street,
Southwark , where Wollstonecraft lived from 1788.
[4] She has served on the Committee of the
London Library , and as a Trustee of the
National Portrait Gallery and the
Wordsworth Trust . She is a Vice-President of the
Royal Literary Fund , the
Royal Society of Literature and of
English PEN . She is also a member of the
American Philosophical Society .
[5]
Personal life
Tomalin married her first husband, fellow Cambridge graduate
Nicholas Tomalin , a journalist, in 1955,
[6] and they had three daughters and two sons.
[7] He was killed while reporting on the Arab-Israeli
Yom Kippur War in 1973. She worked in publishing and journalism as literary editor of the
New Statesman , then
The Sunday Times , while bringing up her children.
[1] She married the novelist and playwright
Michael Frayn in 1993.
[8] They live in
Petersham, London .
[9]
Awards and honours
James Tait Black Memorial Prize , The Invisible Woman (1990)
Hawthornden Prize , The Invisible Woman (1991)
Whitbread Book Award , Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self (2002)
Rose Mary Crawshay Prize , Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self (2003)
Samuel Pepys Award of the
Samuel Pepys Club , Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self (2003)
Samuel Johnson Prize , shortlist, Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self (2003)
Honorary Member
Magdalene College ,
Cambridge (2003)
Honorary Fellow
Lucy Cavendish College ,
Cambridge (2003),
Newnham College ;
Cambridge (2004)
Honorary
D.Litt :
UEA (2005);
Birmingham (2005);
Greenwich (2006);
Cambridge (2007);
Goldsmith (2009);
Open University (2008);
Roehampton (2011);
Portsmouth (2012)
[2]
Costa Book Awards (Biography), shortlist, Charles Dickens: A Life (2011)
Biographers International Organization Annual Award (2016)
[2]
Bodley Medal (2018)
[2]
Works
The Young
H. G. Wells : Changing the World (New York, Penguin Books, 2021) (
ISBN
978-1-984-87902-8 )
A Life of My Own (London,
Penguin Books , 2017) (
ISBN
978-0-241-23995-7 ). Autobiography.
Charles Dickens : A Life (New York,
Penguin Books , 2011) (
ISBN
0-14-103693-1 ).
Thomas Hardy : The Time-Torn Man (New York, Penguin Press, 2007) (
ISBN
978-1-594-20118-9 ).
Samuel Pepys : The Unequalled Self (New York,
Alfred A. Knopf , 2002) (
ISBN
0-670-88568-1 or 0-14-028234-3).
Jane Austen : A Life (Vintage eBooks, 2000) (
ISBN
0-14-029690-5 )
Several Strangers; writing from three decades (London,
Viking Books , 1999) (
ISBN
0-670-88567-3 ); (New York, Penguin, 2000) (
ISBN
0-14-190950-1 ).
Katherine Mansfield : A Secret Life (London, Viking, 1987), 1998 (
ISBN
0-14-011715-6 ).
Mrs. Jordan 's Profession: The Story of a Great Actress and a
Future King , 1995 (
ISBN
0-14-015923-1 ).
The Invisible Woman: The Story of
Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens (London, Viking, 1990) (New York, Knopf, 1991) (
ISBN
0-14-012136-6 ).
Shelley and His World (London, Thames and Hudson, 1980) (
ISBN
0-500-13068-X ); (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1980) (
ISBN
0-68-416620-8 ).
The Life and Death of
Mary Wollstonecraft (London,
Weidenfeld & Nicolson , 1974), 1992 (
ISBN
0-14-016761-7 ).
References
^
a
b
c Cooke, Rachel (24 September 2011).
"Claire Tomalin: 'Writing induces melancholy...' " . The Guardian . Retrieved 8 May 2014 .
^
a
b
c
d
"Tomalin, Claire, (born 20 June 1933), writer" , Who's Who , Oxford University Press, 1 December 2007,
doi :
10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u37831 ,
ISBN
978-0-19-954088-4 , retrieved 6 December 2019
^
a
b
c
"The Fitzwilliam Museum - Biography - Claire Tomalin FRSL (b. 1933)" . Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge . 2008. Retrieved 5 September 2017 .
^ London SE1 website team (4 July 2004).
"Mary Wollstonecraft blue plaque unveiled" . London SE1 . Retrieved 6 May 2018 . {{
cite web }}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link )
^
"APS Member History" . search.amphilsoc.org . Retrieved 29 March 2021 .
^
http://www.freebmd.org.uk search on Tomalin marriages post 1953
^
http://www.freebmd.org.uk search on Tomalin/Delavenay births post 1955
^
"Claire Tomalin: A life in words" .
BBC News . 2 July 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2022 .
^ Adams, Tim (16 August 2009).
"The interview: Michael Frayn" .
The Observer . Retrieved 13 December 2022 .
Further reading
External links
International National Academics People Other