Gaynor Arnold (born 1944) is a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

-born author. Born in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, she studied English Literature at St. Hilda's College, Oxford, and obtained a Diploma in Social and Administrative Studies from the

Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford The Department of Social Policy and Intervention is an interdisciplinary centre for research and teaching in social policy and the systematic evaluation of social intervention based in the Social Sciences Division of the University of Oxford. ...

Background

Since the early 1970s, Arnold has lived in

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family a ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, working as a social worker for

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local government body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local council area in the United Kingdom ...

. She became a full-time writer in 2009.

Recognitions

Her debut novel ''Girl in a Blue Dress'' was published by Birmingham's

Tindal Street Press Tindal Street Press was a Birmingham-based independent publisher of contemporary literary fiction, with a particular focus on writers born, or living, in Birmingham and the West Midlands. According to its website, it was "a publicly funded organi ...

in 2008, being longlisted for both the Booker Prize and the Orange Prize for Fiction.

Bibliography

* ''Girl in a Blue Dress'' (2008) * ''Lying Together'' (2011) * ''After Such Kindness'' (2012) * ''The Sea in Birmingham'' (2013) contributor

References

1944 births Living people Writers from Cardiff Welsh novelists 21st-century Welsh novelists Alumni of St Hilda's College, Oxford {{Wales-writer-stub