Barney Norris, (born 1987) is a British writer.

Early life

Norris was born in

Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...

in West Sussex, later moving to Wiltshire where he attended

Bishop Wordsworth's School Bishop Wordsworth's School is a Church of England boys' grammar school in Salisbury, Wiltshire for boys aged 11 to 18. The school is regularly amongst the top-performing schools in England, and in 2010 was the school with the best results in the ...

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

. He read English at

Keble College, Oxford Keble College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to th ...

, and creative writing at

Royal Holloway, University of London Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

Career

After leaving university, he set up the touring Up in Arms Theatre Company with the director Alice Hamilton, and worked in the theatre as assistant to

Thelma Holt Thelma Holt (born 4 January 1932) is a British theatre producer and former actress. After a successful career as an actress, in partnership with Charles Marowitz, Thelma founded the Open Space Theatre in Tottenham Court Road, London, which b ...

Michael Frayn Michael Frayn, FRSL (; born 8 September 1933) is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce ''Noises Off'' and the dramas ''Copenhagen'' and ''Democracy''. His novels, such as '' Towards the End of the Mo ...

, Peter Gill and

Max Stafford-Clark Maxwell Robert Guthrie Stewart "Max" Stafford-Clark (born 17 March 1941) is a British theatre director. Life and career Stafford-Clark was born in Cambridge, England. the son of David Stafford-Clark, a physician, and Dorothy Crossley (née Old ...

, before becoming a full-time writer. He is an associate artist at the

Watermill Theatre The Watermill Theatre is a repertory theatre in Bagnor, Berkshire. It opened in 1967 in Bagnor Mill, a converted watermill on the River Lambourn. As a producing house, the theatre has produced works that have subsequently moved on to the We ...

, teaches creative writing at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

and writes regularly in the national press, including book reviews for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''.

Writing

Norris's early plays were produced by his company Up in Arms, usually on tour and often in partnership with other theatres. Following the success of his first full-length play ''

Visitors Visitor, in English and Welsh law, is an academic or ecclesiastical title. Visitor or Visitors may also refer to: Geography * Visitor (mountain), a mountain in eastern Montenegro * Lake Visitor, a mountain lake in eastern Montenegro Literature * ...

'', he began to write for other companies, and has since worked with

Salisbury Playhouse Salisbury Playhouse is a theatre in the English city of Salisbury, Wiltshire. It was built in 1976 and comprises the 517-seat Main House and the 149-seat Salberg, a rehearsal room and a community & education space. It is part of Arts Council En ...

, the

Bush Theatre The Bush Theatre is located in the Passmore Edwards Public Library, Shepherd's Bush, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It was established in 1972 as a showcase for the work of new writers. The Bush Theatre strives to create a spa ...

Oxford Playhouse Oxford Playhouse is a theatre designed by Edward Maufe and F.G.M. Chancellor. It is situated in Beaumont Street, Oxford, opposite the Ashmolean Museum. History The Playhouse was founded as ''The Red Barn'' at 12 Woodstock Road, North Oxfor ...

, the

Arcola Theatre Arcola Theatre is an Off West End theatre in the London Borough of Hackney. It presents plays, operas and musicals featuring established and emerging artists. The theatre building, in the former Colourworks paint factory on Ashwin Street, Dalst ...

, the

Royal and Derngate Royal & Derngate is a theatre complex in the Cultural Quarter, Northampton, Cultural Quarter of Northampton, England, consisting of the Royal Theatre and Derngate Theatre. The Royal was built by theatre architect Charles J. Phipps and opened i ...

Out of Joint Out of Joint is a British and international touring theatre company based in London. It specialises in the commissioning and production of new writing, interspersed with occasional revivals and classic productions. It was founded in 1993 by direct ...

and the

Bridge Theatre The Bridge Theatre is a commercial theatre near Tower Bridge in London that opened in October 2017. It was developed by Nick Starr and Nicholas Hytner as the home of the London Theatre Company, which they founded following their tenancy as execut ...

, among others. His first novel, ''Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain'', was published in 2016; he has since published three other novels, including ''Undercurrent'' in 2022, and two books of non-fiction.

Awards

* 2014 – Critics' Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright for ''Visitors'' * 2015 – Selected as one of the ''Evening Standards Progress 1000 * 2016 – Betty Trask Award for ''Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain'' * 2016 – South Bank Sky Arts Times Breakthrough Award for Literature * 2018 – One Book Award for ''Turning For Home'' * 2018 – Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature * 2019 – Award for Excellence in International Theatre from the International Theatre Institute

Selected works

Fiction

* ''Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain'' (2016) * ''Turning For Home'' (2018) * ''The Vanishing Hours'' (2019) * ''Undercurrent'' (2022)

Theatre

* ''

'' (2014, Up in Arms, Arcola Theatre, Bush Theatre and tour) * ''Eventide'' (2015, Up in Arms, Arcola Theatre and tour) * ''Echo's End'' (2017, Salisbury Playhouse) * ''While We're Here'' (2017, Up in Arms, Bush Theatre, BBC Radio 4 and tour) * ''Nightfall'' (2018, Bridge Theatre) * ''We Started To Sing'' (2022, Arcola Theatre)

Adaptations

* ''The Remains of the Day'' (2019, Out of Joint, Northampton Royal and Derngate, Oxford Playhouse and tour) * ''Blood Wedding'' (2020, Up in Arms and Salisbury Playhouse)

Collaborations

* ''The Wellspring'' with David Owen Norris (2022, Northampton Royal and Derngate and tour)

Radio

* ''While We're Here'' (2018, BBC Radio 4) * ''Song and Dance'' (2019, BBC Radio 4) * ''The Queen of the Isle of Wight'' (2021, BBC Radio 4)

Non-fiction

* ''To Bodies Gone: The Theatre of Peter Gill'' (2014) * ''The Wellspring: Conversations with David Owen Norris'' (2018)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norris, Barney Living people 1987 births Alumni of Keble College, Oxford Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London 21st-century British dramatists and playwrights 21st-century British novelists Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature People from Chichester People from Wiltshire British male novelists