Ben Rice (born 1972) is a prize-winning British author. Rice was born in

Tiverton, Devon Tiverton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Devon, England, and the commercial and administrative centre of the Mid Devon district. The population in 2019 was 20,587. History Early history The town's name is conjectured to derive from "Twy-fo ...

, educated at

Blundell's School Blundell's School is a co-educational day and boarding independent school in the English public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon. It was founded in 1604 under the will of Peter Blundell, one of the richest men in England at the tim ...

and read English literature at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...

before undertaking a creative writing course at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

(MA). His debut novella '' Pobby and Dingan'' (later filmed as ''

Opal Dream ''Opal Dream'' (also known as ''Pobby and Dingan'') is a 2006 Australian drama film, based on the 2000 Ben Rice novella '' Pobby and Dingan'', directed by Peter Cattaneo and starring an ensemble cast including Vince Colosimo, Jacqueline McKenzi ...

'') was awarded the

Somerset Maugham Award The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each year by the Society of Authors. Set up by William Somerset Maugham in 1947 the awards enable young writers to enrich their work by gaining experience in foreign countries. The awa ...

in 2001 (as well as being shortlisted for the

John Llewellyn Rhys Prize The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize was a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of literature (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama) by an author from the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth aged 35 or under, written in English and publis ...

), and in 2003 ''

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...

'' named him as one of their twenty "Best of Young British Novelists". Pobby and Dingan has been described as ' ... an enormously touching, imaginative and unexpected novel that ... glows in your hands.' (Jeff Giles, ''The New York Times Book Review''). He currently lives in

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

and teaches English at

Marcellin College Randwick , motto_translation = The Eternal, not the Transitory , established = , type = Independent single-sex secondary day school , gender = Boys , denomination = Roman Catholicism , religious_affiliation = Marist Brothers , affiliations = Asso ...

Bibliography

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Sources

''Granta'' Magazine author profile

References

1972 births Living people 21st-century English male writers 21st-century English novelists Alumni of Newcastle University Alumni of the University of East Anglia Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford English male novelists Granta people International Writing Program alumni People educated at Blundell's School Writers from Tiverton, Devon {{England-novelist-stub