Nicholas Murray is a British biographer, poet and journalist.

Career

Murray is a freelance author based in Wales and London. Born in Liverpool he is the author of several literary biographies including lives of

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the prominent Huxley ...

Bruce Chatwin Charles Bruce Chatwin (13 May 194018 January 1989) was an English travel writer, novelist and journalist. His first book, ''In Patagonia'' (1977), established Chatwin as a travel writer, although he considered himself instead a storyteller, i ...

Andrew Marvell Andrew Marvell (; 31 March 1621 – 16 August 1678) was an English metaphysical poet, satirist and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1659 and 1678. During the Commonwealth period he was a colleague and friend ...

and

Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the celebrated headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, lite ...

, four collections of poems, and two novels. His biography of Matthew Arnold was a

New York Times Notable Book of the Year ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

in 1997 and his biography of Aldous Huxley was shortlisted for the

Marsh Biography Award {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 The Marsh Biography Award was a British literary award, given to the author of the best biography written in the previous two years by a British author. It was established in 1987 and was presented biennially until ...

in 2003. His biography of Franz Kafka has been translated into nine languages. He is a regular contributor of poems, essays and reviews to a wide range of newspapers and literary magazines In 1996 he was the inaugural Gladys Krieble Delmas Fellow at 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 ...

Centre for the Book and he is a Fellow of the

Welsh Academy Literature Wales is the Welsh national literature promotion agency and society of writers, existing to promote Welsh-language and English-language literature in Wales. It offers bursaries for writing projects, runs literary events and lectures ...

and vice-chair of

English PEN Founded in 1921, English PEN is one of the world's first non-governmental organisations and among the first international bodies advocating for human rights. English PEN was the founding centre of PEN International, a worldwide writers' associati ...

’s Writers in Translation Committee. He has lectured at literary festivals and universities in Britain, Europe and the United States. From 2003-2007 he was

Royal Literary Fund The Royal Literary Fund (RLF) is a benevolent fund that gives assistance to published British writers in financial difficulties. Founded in 1790, and granted a royal charter in 1818, the Fund has helped an extensive roll of authors through its long ...

Fellow at

Queen Mary University , mottoeng = With united powers , established = 1785 – The London Hospital Medical College1843 – St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College1882 – Westfield College1887 – East London College/Queen Mary College , type = Public researc ...

, London and from 2010-2011 an RLF Fellow at

King's College, London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. He is a tutor in biography and creative non-fiction at the

City Literary Institute City Lit is an adult education college in Holborn, central London, founded by the London County Council in 1919, which has charitable status. It offers part-time courses across four schools and five "centres of expertise", covering humanities an ...

in London. ''So Spirited a Town: Visions and Versions of Liverpool'' was published by

Liverpool University Press Liverpool University Press (LUP), founded in 1899, is the third oldest university press in England after Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. As the press of the University of Liverpool, it specialises in modern languages, li ...

in November 2007 and a book about the British Victorian travellers and explorers, ''A Corkscrew is Most Useful'', was published by

Little, Brown Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily D ...

in April 2008. In November 2010 his book about

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...

in the “Real” series was published:
Real Bloomsbury
' ( Seren, ). His book about the British poets of the First World War, ''The Red Sweet Wine of Youth'' (Little, Brown) appeared in February 2011 and his verse broadside against the British coalition government, ''Get Real!'' also appeared in February 2011. In April 2012 ''Acapulco: New and Selected Poems'' appeared from Melos Press. His latest book is ''Of Earth, Water, Air and Fire: animal poems'' (Melos, 2013) Murray also runs a small poetry imprint, Rack Press, and writes the Bibliophilicblogger literary blog. In August 2015, Murray was one of 20 authors of ''Poets for Corbyn'', an anthology of poems endorsing

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

campaign Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme * Bl ...

in the Labour Party leadership election.

Works

*''Bruce Chatwin'' (Seren, 1996, though Murray's website says 1996) *''Matthew Arnold'' *''World Enough and Time: The Life of Andrew Marvell'' *''Aldous Huxley'' *''Franz Kafka'' *''A Corkscrew is Most Useful: The Travellers of Empire'' *''

Real Bloomsbury ''Real Bloomsbury'' is a 2010 local oral history book by Nicholas Murray, on the district of Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden Synopsis Murray walks around the historic and fascinating square mile of the Bloomsbury area among local ...

'' *''The Red Sweet Wine of Youth: The British Poets of the First World War'' *''Remembering Carmen'' *''A Short Book About Love'' *''So Spirited a Town: Visions and Versions of Liverpool'' *''Acapulco: New and Selected Poems'' *''

Bloomsbury and the Poets ''Bloomsbury and the Poets'' is a 2014 book by Nicholas Murray (biographer), Nicholas Murray. Synopsis The book details the history of literature in the Bloomsbury district of London, including the Bloomsbury Group. Reception In ''The Spectato ...

References

External links

Official site Bibliophilic literary blogBiography
from Royal Literary Fund
''Kafka''
review in ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'', 13 Jun 2004
Blog review
of ''The Red Sweet Wine Of Youth''

from ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''
"Tremors of Implication "
from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''
''Real Bloomsbury''
blog {{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Nicholas People educated at St Mary's College, Crosby English biographers Writers from Liverpool Living people English male journalists English male poets Year of birth missing (living people) Male biographers