Beatrice Colin (14 October 1963 – 6 February 2019) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

novelist,

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

tist, and senior lecturer in creative writing at the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

.''Obituary: Beatrice Colin, writer and teacher'' – Gaynor Macfarlane, The Herald, 21 February 2019
/ref>

Early life

Beatrice Colin was born in London on 14 October 1963. Her family moved to Lancashire and then to Glasgow, where she attended

Dumbarton Academy Dumbarton Academy is a mixed secondary school in Dumbarton, West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Location The school is situated near the railway off the B830 in the east of Dumbarton. St James Retail Park is on the opposite side of the North Clyde ...

and

Park School for Girls Park School for Girls was an independent all-girls school situated in Glasgow, Scotland. The school merged with Laurel Bank School and the resulting Laurel Park School was absorbed into Hutchesons' Grammar School in 2002. History The school was ...

, followed by the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

in 1982, where she read English. There she formed the musical duo ''April Showers'' with Jonathan Bernstein – their single ''Abandon Ship'' reached 144 in the UK singles charts.

Career

After graduating from the University of Glasgow, she worked as a journalist for the arts and features pages of publications including

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...

Sunday Herald The ''Sunday Herald'' was a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published between 7 February 1999 and 2 September 2018. Originally a broadsheet, it was published in compact format from 20 November 2005. The paper was known for having combined a centre- ...

and

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 ...

. In her late twenties, she won a Radio 4 short story competition and started writing radio plays and adaptations.''Beatrice Colin talks about the febrile New York she uncovered for her latest novel, set in the Jazz Age'' – The Scotsman, 19 March 2010
/ref> She completed her PhD in creative writing at the

in 2008.

Novels

* ''Nude, Untitled'', 2001
— shortlisted for the Saltire First Book Award * ''Disappearing Act'', 2002 * ''The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite'' (UK title), 2008
''The Glimmer Palace'' (US title), 2007
— Recommended by the Richard & Judy Book Club, 2009 * ''The Songwriter'', 2010
''New York 1916'', 2011 (Italian translation) * ''To Capture What We Cannot Keep'', 2016 ''Paris'' – Nancy Kline, New York Times, 3 Feb 2017
/ref> * ''The Glass House'', 2020

Short stories

* ''The Suffragette’s Party'' * ''Toad'' * ''Grey Evening''

For children

* ''My Invisible Sister'' with Sara Pinto, 2010 (made into the film ''

Invisible Sister ''Invisible Sister'' is a 2015 Disney Channel Original Movie, based on the book ''My Invisible Sister'' by Beatrice Colin and Sara Pinto. The film is directed by Paul Hoen, and stars Rowan Blanchard and Paris Berelc. It focuses on a student who ...

'' by Disney TV) * ''Pyrate’s Boy'', 2013 (as E B Colin)

Radio plays

Theatre

Film

* ''

'', 2015

Disney Channel Original Movie Many television films have been produced for Disney Channel, an American family-oriented basic cable channel and former premium television channel since its launch on April 18, 1983. Until October 1997, films were released under the banner nam ...

based on the book ''My Invisible Sister'' * ''The Hide'', 2017 short film

Personal life

Beatrice Colin married Ewan Morrison in 1996; the couple had two children, Theo in 1998 and Frances in 2001. Their marriage ended in 2003. She met Paul Harkin, a lecturer, in 2008; they married in 2016. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2016, from which she died in 2019 aged 55.

References

External links

Beatrice Colin’s website
*
Beatrice Colin at Fantastic Fiction

Beatrice Colin at Goodreads

Beatrice Colin at Royal Literary Fund
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colin, Beatrice 1963 births 2019 deaths 21st-century British novelists Alumni of the University of Glasgow Alumni of the University of Strathclyde British radio writers British women dramatists and playwrights British women novelists Deaths from ovarian cancer in the United Kingdom People educated at Dumbarton Academy Women radio writers