Ann Thwaite (born 4 October 1932) is a British writer who is the author of five major biographies. ''AA Milne: His Life'' was the Whitbread Biography of the Year, 1990. ''Edmund Gosse: A Literary Landscape'' (Duff Cooper Prize, 1985) was described by John Carey as "magnificent - one of the finest literary biographies of our time". ''Glimpses of the Wonderful'' about the life of

Edmund Gosse Sir Edmund William Gosse (; 21 September 184916 May 1928) was an English poet, author and critic. He was strictly brought up in a small Protestant sect, the Plymouth Brethren, but broke away sharply from that faith. His account of his childhoo ...

's father,

Philip Henry Gosse Philip Henry Gosse FRS (; 6 April 1810 – 23 August 1888), known to his friends as Henry, was an English naturalist and populariser of natural science, an early improver of the seawater aquarium, and a painstaking innovator in the study of ma ...

, was picked out by

D. J. Taylor David John Taylor (born 1960) is a British critic, novelist and biographer. After attending school in Norwich, he read Modern History at St John's College, Oxford, and has received the 2003 Whitbread Biography Award for his biography of Geo ...

in ''

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 publish ...

'' as one of the "Ten Best Biographies" ever.

Frances Hodgson Burnett Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (24 November 1849 – 29 October 1924) was a British-American novelist and playwright. She is best known for the three children's novels ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' (published in 1885–1886), '' A Little ...

was originally published (1974) as ''Waiting for the Party'' and reissued in 2020 with the title ''Beyond the Secret Garden'', with a foreword b
Jacqueline Wilson
''Emily Tennyson, The Poet's Wife'' (1996) was reissued by Faber Finds for the Tennyson bicentenary in 2009.

Biography

Born in London, Ann Thwaite spent the war years in New Zealand, returning to complete her education at Queen Elizabeth's School For Girls, Barnet, and

St Hilda's College, Oxford St Hilda's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college is named after the Anglo-Saxon Saint, Hilda of Whitby and was founded in 1893 as a hall for women; it remained a women's college until 20 ...

. She has lived in Tokyo,

Benghazi Benghazi () , ; it, Bengasi; tr, Bingazi; ber, Bernîk, script=Latn; also: ''Bengasi'', ''Benghasi'', ''Banghāzī'', ''Binghāzī'', ''Bengazi''; grc, Βερενίκη ('' Berenice'') and ''Hesperides''., group=note (''lit. Son of he Ghaz ...

, and Nashville, Tennessee. She has lectured in many countries, but most of her life has been spent as a writer; she eventually settled in Norfolk with her husband, poet

Anthony Thwaite Anthony Simon Thwaite (23 June 1930 – 22 April 2021) was an English poet and critic, widely known as the editor of his friend Philip Larkin's collected poems and letters. Early years and education Born in Chester, England, to Yorkshire par ...

(1930–2021). She is an Oxford

D.Litt Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...

, and a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 600 Fellows, ele ...

. She is an Honorary Fellow of the

University of Roehampton The University of Roehampton, London, formerly Roehampton Institute of Higher Education, is a public university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. Roehampton was formerly an e ...

(National Centre for Research into Children's Literature) and has an honorary doctorate from 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 ...

. For forty years, Ann Thwaite wrote children's books, including ''The Camelthorn Papers'' (1969), translated into Japanese and Greek, ''Tracks'', a New Zealand story, and a picture book, ''Gilbert and the Birthday Cake''. Jan Mark included her story "Feeding the Cats" in the ''Oxford Book of Children's Stories'' (1993). She reviewed children's books for many years, mainly in ''

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 ...

'', and ran a library for local children in her home. ''The Brilliant Career of Winnie-the Pooh'', a scrapbook offshoot of her Milne biography, was published on both sides of the Atlantic in 1992. She edited (1968–75) ''Allsorts'', an annual collection that included new work for children by such writers as

Michael Frayn Michael Frayn, FRSL (; born 8 September 1933) is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce '' Noises Off'' and the dramas ''Copenhagen'' and ''Democracy''. His novels, such as '' Towards the End of the M ...

James Fenton James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

, Penelope Lively and

William Trevor William Trevor Cox (24 May 1928 – 20 November 2016), known by his pen name William Trevor, was an Irish novelist, playwright, and short story writer. One of the elder statesmen of the Irish literary world, he is widely regarded as one of th ...

. ''My Oxford'' (1977) contained memories of their time there by writers including

John Mortimer Sir John Clifford Mortimer (21 April 1923 – 16 January 2009) was a British barrister, dramatist, screenwriter and author. He is best known for novels about a barrister named Horace Rumpole. Early life Mortimer was born in Hampstead, London ...

Antonia Fraser Lady Antonia Margaret Caroline Fraser, (' Pakenham; born 27 August 1932) is a British author of history, novels, biographies and detective fiction. She is the widow of the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Literature, Harold Pinter (1930–2008), and ...

, and

Martin Amis Martin Louis Amis (born 25 August 1949) is a British novelist, essayist, memoirist, and screenwriter. He is best known for his novels ''Money'' (1984) and ''London Fields'' (1989). He received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his memoir ' ...

. Her edition of ''Portraits from Life'' is a collection (1991) of Edmund Gosse's essays on his friends, including

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as '' Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

, and

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Wor ...

. In 2009, Ann Thwaite published ''Passageways, the story of a New Zealand family'', which was much praised on both sides of the world. All eight of her great-grandparents emigrated to New Zealand in the middle of the nineteenth century, and it was the realisation that she knew so much more about the families of her biographical subjects that made her look into her own family history. In 2017, a new edition was published of her 1990 biography of

A. A. Milne Alan Alexander Milne (; 18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an English writer best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as for children's poetry. Milne was primarily a playwright before the huge success of Winni ...

to coincide with the film ''

Goodbye Christopher Robin ''Goodbye Christopher Robin'' is a 2017 British biographical drama film about the lives of ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' creator A. A. Milne and his family, especially his son Christopher Robin. It was directed by Simon Curtis and written by Frank Cott ...

'' for which she was a consultant. It appeared with the subtitle ''A.A. Milne and the Making of Winnie-the-Pooh'' and had an introduction by

Frank Cottrell-Boyce Frank Cottrell-Boyce (born 23 September 1959)"COTTRELL-BOYCE, Frank", ''Who's Who 2010'', A & C Black, 2010; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2009 ; online edn, Nov 200 Retrieved 2010-05-16. is an English people, English screenwriter, ...

, the screenwriter. In 2018, ''Goodbye Christopher Robin'' was translated into Japanese. In 1990,

Christopher Milne Christopher Milne (born 24 May 1950) is an Australian actor and award-winning writer who has scripted numerous episodes of '' Prisoner'' and ''Neighbours'', as well as appearing on the shows as a performer. He also originated the character of ...

wrote to her: "In you my father has found the perfect biographer... I am left with nothing but admiration and happiness."

Works

* ''A Piece of Parkin: A True Story from the Autobiography of Frances Hodgson Burnett'' (1980) * ''Edmund Gosse: A Literary Landscape, 1849-1928'' (1984) * ''A. A. Milne: His Life'' (1990) * ''Waiting for the Party: The Life of Frances Hodgson Burnett, 1849-1924'' (1991) * ''The Ashton Affair'' (1995) (children's book) * ''

Emily Tennyson Emily Sarah Tennyson, Baroness Tennyson ( Sellwood; 9 July 1813 – 10 August 1896), known as Emily, Lady Tennyson, was the wife of the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and a creative talent in her own right. Emily was the oldest of three daughte ...

: The Poet's Wife'' (1996) * ''Glimpses of the Wonderful: The Life of Philip Henry Gosse 1810-1888)'' (2002) * ''Passageways: The Story of a New Zealand Family'' (2009)

External links

*
Ann Thwaite Collection of A. A. Milne
at the

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the pur ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thwaite, Ann 1932 births British biographers Alumni of St Hilda's College, Oxford Living people Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature People educated at Queen Elizabeth's School for Girls English emigrants to New Zealand