John Francis ("Frank") Tuohy, (2 May 1925 – 11 April 1999) was an English writer and academic. Born in

Uckfield Uckfield () is a town in the Wealden District of East Sussex in South East England. The town is on the River Uck, one of the tributaries of the River Ouse, on the southern edge of the Weald. Etymology 'Uckfield', first recorded in writing as ...

, Sussex, he attended Stowe School and went on to read Moral Sciences and English at

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

. On completion of his studies, he worked in numerous academic posts under the auspices of 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 ...

. This included postings in Finland, Brazil and Poland. In the 1950s, in the British Council School of São Paulo, Brazil, he ran a memorable course on The War Poets (WWI), introducing Stephen Spender and his contemporaries. His posting in Poland provided his inspiration for his 1965 novel ''The Ice Saints''. The book received considerable critical acclaim and was awarded the

James Tait Black Memorial Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Uni ...

. Tuohy died in Shepton Mallet,

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

in 1999 at a time when he was working on the uncompleted manuscript for a new novel following many years of

writer's block Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Mike Rose found that this creative stall is not a result of commitment problems or th ...

Awards and distinctions

*Katherine Mansfield-Menton Prize (1959) *

(1964) *

Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize The Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize is a British literary prize established in 1963 in tribute to Geoffrey Faber, founder and first Chairman of the publisher Faber & Faber. It recognises a single volume of poetry or fiction by a United Kingdom, Irish ...

(1965) *Fellow, Royal Society of Literature (1965) * E. M. Forster Award (1972) *

Heinemann Award The W. H. Heinemann Award is an award established by William Heinemann who bequeathed funds to the Royal Society of Literature to establish a literary prize, given from 1945 to 2003.Directory of Grants in the Humanities The Heinemann Award is give ...

(1979)

Works

*''The Admiral and the Nuns with Other Stories''. London, Macmillan, 1962; New York, Scribner, 1963. *''The Animal Game''. London, Macmillan, and New York, Scribner, 1957. *''The Warm Nights of January''. London, Macmillan, 1960. *''The Ice Saints''. London, Macmillan, and New York, Scribner, 1964. *''Fingers in the Door''. London, Macmillan, and New York, Scribner, 1970. *''Live Bait and Other Stories''. London, Macmillan, 1978; New York, Holt Rinehart, 1979. *''The Collected Stories''. London, Macmillan, and New York, HoltRinehart, 1984.

External links

Obituary in ''The Independent''
1925 births 1999 deaths Alumni of King's College, Cambridge English academics English short story writers Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature People educated at Stowe School James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients 20th-century English novelists 20th-century British short story writers {{england-writer-stub