Clive John Sinclair (19 February 1948 – 5 March 2018)Bryan Cheyette
"Clive Sinclair, 1948–2018"
''TLS'', 6 March 2018. was a British author who published several award-winning novels and collections of short stories, including ''The Lady with the Laptop'' and ''Bedbugs''.

Biography

Sinclair, who was born into a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family originally named Smolensky, grew up in

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...

, North London, and was educated 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 ...

(BA, PhD), the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California syste ...

, and at the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a public university , public research university in Exeter, Devon, England, United Kingdom. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Min ...

. Although his writing career began with short stories that appeared in magazines and journals, his first book was a novel – ''Bibliosexuality'' – which was published in 1973 by

Allison and Busby Allison & Busby (A & B) is a publishing house based in London established by Clive Allison and Margaret Busby in 1967. The company has built up a reputation as a leading independent publisher. Background Launching as a publishing company in May ...

.Matthew Asprey
"El Hombre Valeroso: An Interview with Clive Sinclair"
''Los Angeles Review of Books'', 18 December 2012. As he said in a 2012 interview: "The truth is I've always been a short story writer rather than a novelist. ''Bibliosexuality'' was originally a collection of short stories about a certain David Drollkind.

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's youngest and first black female book publisherJazzmine Breary"Let' ...

said she would publish it, if I could find a way of linking them. That's how it became a novel." Sinclair went on to become better known as a writer of short stories, with his next book, the 1981 collection ''Hearts of Gold'', winning him 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 1983, he was recognised in ''Granta''′s list of Best Young British Novelists. He subsequently published several novels and collections of shorter fiction, in addition to non-fiction, such as biography and travel writing. His stories, interviews, travel pieces and reviews appeared in a wide range of publications, including ''

Encounter Encounter or Encounters may refer to: Film *''Encounter'', a 1997 Indian film by Nimmala Shankar * ''Encounter'' (2013 film), a Bengali film * ''Encounter'' (2018 film), an American sci-fi film * ''Encounter'' (2021 film), a British sci-fi film * ...

'', ''The Year’s Best Horror Stories'', ''New Review'', ''

London Magazine ''The London Magazine'' is the title of six different publications that have appeared in succession since 1732. All six have focused on the arts, literature and miscellaneous topics. 1732–1785 ''The London Magazine, or, Gentleman's Monthly I ...

'', ''

Penthouse Penthouse most often refers to: *Penthouse apartment, a special apartment on the top floor of a building *Penthouse (magazine), ''Penthouse'' (magazine), a British-founded men's magazine *Mechanical penthouse, a floor, typically located directly u ...

'', ''

Club International ''Club International'' is a British softcore pornographic magazine published by Paul Raymond Publications that features pictures of nude women. It is a sister magazine of American magazine ''Club''. History and profile ''Club International'' was ...

'', ''

Transatlantic Review Transatlantic, Trans-Atlantic or TransAtlantic may refer to: Film * Transatlantic Pictures, a film production company from 1948 to 1950 * Transatlantic Enterprises, an American production company in the late 1970s * ''Transatlantic'' (1931 film), ...

'', ''

Lilith Lilith ( ; he, Wiktionary:לילית, לִילִית, Līlīṯ) is a female figure in Mesopotamian Mythology, Mesopotamian and Jewish mythology, Judaic mythology, alternatively the first wife of Adam and supposedly the primordial she-demon. ...

'', ''Monat'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', '' Contrappasso Magazine''. and ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication i ...

'' (TLS). Between 1983 and 1987, Sinclair was literary editor of ''

The Jewish Chronicle ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

'', and in 1988 he was the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

Guest Writer-in-residence at the

University of Uppsala Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. The university rose to significance during ...

, Sweden.Clive Sinclair biography
, British Council. He had been the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

Penguin Writer's Fellow, as well as a visiting lecturer, most frequently at the

, but also at the

, his special subjects being

gothic fiction Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ea ...

, creative writing,

detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as s ...

, and

Holocaust literature The Holocaust has been a prominent subject of art and literature throughout the second half of the twentieth century. There are a wide range of ways–including dance, film, literature, music, and television–in which the Holocaust has been repre ...

. His other books include ''A Soap Opera From Hell: Essays on the Facts of Life and the Facts of Death'' (1998), ''Clive Sinclair's True Tales of the Wild West'' (2008), and ''Death & Texas'' (2014). Sinclair was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

in 1983. Sinclair died in March 2018, aged 70. A posthumous collection of his work, entitled ''Shylock Must Die'' – based on the character

Shylock Shylock is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's play ''The Merchant of Venice'' (c. 1600). A Venetian Jewish moneylender, Shylock is the play's principal antagonist. His defeat and conversion to Christianity form the climax of the ...

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as ...

'' – was published in July 2018.Elizabeth Lowry
"It was his humour — Final stories of a comic master"
''TLS'', 22 August 2018.

Selected bibliography

*''Bibliosexuality: A novel''. London:

, 1973. *''Hearts of Gold'' (short stories). London: Allison and Busby, 1979. *''Bedbugs'' (short stories). London: Allison and Busby, 1982. *''The Brothers Singer'' (a biography of

Isaac Bashevis Singer Isaac Bashevis Singer ( yi, יצחק באַשעװיס זינגער; November 11, 1903 – July 24, 1991) was a Polish-born American Jewish writer who wrote and published first in Yiddish and later translated himself into English with the help ...

I. J. Singer Israel Joshua Singer (Yiddish: ישראל יהושע זינגער ; November 30, 1893, Biłgoraj, Congress Poland — February 10, 1944 New York) was a Polish-Jewish novelist who wrote in Yiddish. Biography He was born Yisruel Yehoyshye Zinger ...

, and

Esther Kreitman Hinde Ester Singer Kreytman (31 March 1891 – 13 June 1954), known in English as Esther Kreitman, was a Yiddish-language novelist and short story writer. She was born in Biłgoraj, Vistula Land to a rabbinic Jewish family. Her younger brothers ...

). London; Allison & Busby (distributed in the US by Schocken Books), 1983. *''Blood Libels'' (novel). London: Allison and Busby, 1985. New York:

Farrar, Straus, Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer P ...

, 1986. *''Cosmetic Effects'' (novel). London, 1991. *''Augustus Rex: A Novel''. London: Andre Deutsch, 1992. *''The Lady with the Laptop and Other Stories''. London:

Picador A ''picador'' (; pl. ''picadores'') is one of the pair of horse-mounted bullfighters in a Spanish-style bullfight that jab the bull with a lance. They perform in the ''tercio de varas'', which is the first of the three stages in a stylized bullf ...

, 1996. *''For Good or Evil: Collected Stories''. London: Picador, 1998. *''A Soap Opera From Hell: Essays on the Facts of Life and the Facts of Death''. London: Picador, 1998. *''Meet the Wife'' (novel). London: Picador, 2002. *''Clive Sinclair's True Tales of the Wild West'' (travel). London: Picador, 2008. *''Death & Texas'' (short stories). London: Halban Publishers, 2014. *''Shylock Must Die'' (short stories). London: Halban Publishers, 2018.

Awards

* 1997: Macmillan Silver Pen Award (''The Lady with the Laptop and Other Stories'') * 1997:

Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize The Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Literary Prize is an annual British literary prize inaugurated in 1977. It is named after the host ''Jewish Quarterly'' and the prize's founder Harold Hyam Wingate. The award recognises Jewish and non-Jewish writers r ...

(''The Lady with the Laptop and Other Stories'') * 1981:

(''Hearts of Gold'')

References

External links

Guy Woodward, "Clive Sinclair"
Literature - British Council. * Matthew Asprey Gear
"El Hombre Valeroso: An Interview with Clive Sinclair"
''Contrappasso Magazine'', 25 July 2017.

British Library, 20 January 2014.
"Criminally Neglected Authors: Clive Sinclair and his ‘Bedbugs’ (1982)"
''Lion and the Hunter'', 21 May 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sinclair, Clive 1948 births 2018 deaths Alumni of the University of East Anglia University of California, Santa Cruz alumni British Jewish writers Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature 20th-century British novelists British male short story writers Alumni of the University of Essex People from Hendon