Rosalind Barber ^[1] (born 1964) is an English novelist, poet and academic. ^[2]

Education

She has a BSc in Biology, an MA in creative writing, the arts and education, and a PhD in English literature, all from the University of Sussex. She also has an Open University BA in English literature and philosophy. ^[3]

Barber has worked as a computer programmer. ^[4]

Novels

Barber's first novel, The Marlowe Papers (2012), is written in blank verse. She subscribes to the Marlovian theory of Shakespeare authorship. ^{[5] [6]} In the book, Marlowe's death is a ruse and he writes plays in Shakespeare's name. The book won the Desmond Elliott Prize ^[7] and the Authors' Club First Novel Award. ^[8] Her second novel, Devotion (2015), ^[9] was shortlisted for the Encore Award. ^[10]

Barber made an appearance at the Brighton Fringe in 2012. ^{[11] [12]} She and Nicola Haydn wrote a one-man stage adaptation of The Marlowe Papers performed in 2016. ^{[13] [14]}

Poetry

Of Barber's three volumes of poetry, Material (2008) was a Poetry Book Society recommendation. ^[10] Its title poem, which also appears in the Faber anthology Poems of the Decade (2015), was in England's school sixth-form syllabus as of 2017. ^[15]

Academic position

As of 2021, Barber lectures in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London. ^[16]

Awards

She won the Hoffman Prize in 2011, 2014 and 2018. ^{[17] [18] [1]}

Bibliography

Novels

• The Marlowe Papers (2012)
• Devotion (2015)

Poetry

• How Things Are On Thursday (2004)
• Not the Usual Grasses Singing (2005)
• Material (2008)

Non-fiction

• 30 Second Shakespeare (2015)

References

External links

• Staff page at Goldsmiths, University of London
• Ros Barber at Royal Literary Fund
• Material Poem Analysis and Commentary
• The Bard didn’t use Warwickshire dialect – so was he really Shakespeare?, article by Barber at The Conversation