Jane Mary Gardam (born 11 July 1928) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

writer of children's and adult fiction. She also writes reviews for ''The Spectator'' and ''The Telegraph'', and writes for BBC radio. She lives in Kent, Wimbledon, and Yorkshire. She has won numerous literary awards, including the Whitbread Award twice. She was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(OBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours.

Biography

Gardam was born in Coatham,

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by national parks, including most of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It is one of four co ...

, to William and Kathleen Mary Pearson, and grew up in Cumberland and the North Riding of Yorkshire. Whilst at school she was inspired by a mobile all-woman theatre run by

Nancy Hewins Margaret Nancy Hewins (14 February 1902 – 17 January 1978) was a British theatre director and actress. She founded the first all-woman theatre troupe who toured the UK presenting Shakespeare particularly to schools. Life Hewins was born in Lon ...

who created "She Stoops to Conquer". At the age of seventeen, she won a scholarship to read English at

Bedford College, London Bedford College was in York Place after 1874 Bedford College was founded in London in 1849 as the first higher education college for women in the United Kingdom. In 1900, it became a constituent of the University of London. Having played a le ...

, now part of

Royal Holloway, University of London Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic depa ...

( BA English, 1949). After leaving university, Gardam worked in a number of literary-related jobs, starting off as a Red Cross Travelling Librarian for hospital libraries, and later a journalist. She married David Gardam QC and they had three children, Tim, Catharine (Kitty) Nicholson, a botanical artist who died in 2011, and Tom. Gardam's first book was a children's novel, ''A Long Way From Verona'', a 13-year-old girl's first-person narrative, it was published in 1971. It won the

Phoenix Award The Phoenix Award annually recognizes one English-language children's book published twenty years earlier that did not then win a major literary award. It is named for the mythical bird phoenix that is reborn from its own ashes, signifying the ...

from the

Children's Literature Association The Children's Literature Association (ChLA) is a non-profit association, based in the United States, of scholars, critics, professors, students, librarians, teachers, and institutions dedicated to studying children's literature.Margaret W. Denman- ...

in 1991, which recognizes the best children's book published twenty years earlier that did not win a major award. In 1989, Gardam was on the judging panel of the (then) Whitbread Book Award, now known as the

Costa Book Awards The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, the ...

. In her most recent works of fiction she has explored related themes and recounted stories from different points of view in three novels: ''Old Filth'' (2004), ''The Man in the Wooden Hat'' (2009), and ''Last Friends'' (2013). One American reviewer noted that her concern with "the intricate web of manners and class peculiar to the inhabitants of her homeland" does not explain why she remains less well known to an international audience than her English contemporaries. He recommended ''Old Filth'' for its "typical excellence and compulsive readability", written by a novelist "at the top of her form". ''The Spectator'' praised ''The Man in the Wooden Hat'' for its "rich complexities of chronology, settings and characters, all manipulated with marvellous dexterity". In 2015, a BBC survey voted ''Old Filth'' among the 100 greatest British novels.

Works and recognition

Children's books

*''A Long Way from Verona'' (1971) *''A Few Fair Days'' (1971) *''The Summer After the Funeral'' (1973) *''Bridget and William'' (1981) *''The Hollow Land'' (1981), received the 1983 Whitbread Children's Book Award *''Horse'' (1982) *''Kit'' (1983) *''Kit in Boots'' (1986) *''Swan'' (1987) *''Through the Doll's House Door'' (1987) *''Black Woolly Pony'' (1993) *''Tufty Bear'' (1996) *''The Kit Stories'' (1998)

Short story collections

*''Black Faces, White Faces'' (1975),

David Higham Prize for Fiction The David Higham Prize for Fiction was inaugurated in 1975 to mark the 80th birthday of David Higham, literary agent, and was awarded annually to a citizen of the Commonwealth, Republic of Ireland, Pakistan, or South Africa for a first novel or boo ...

(1975),

Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize The Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize was presented from 1967 until 2003 by the Royal Society of Literature for the best regional novel of the year. It is named after the novelist Winifred Holtby who was noted for her novels set in the rural scenes o ...

(1975) *''The Sidmouth Letters'' (1980) *''The Pangs of Love and Other Stories'' (1983), Katherine Mansfield Award for 1984 *''Showing the Flag and Other Stories'' (1989) *''Trio: Three Stories from Cheltenham'' (1993) *''Going into a Dark House'' (1994), PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award for 1995 *''Missing the Midnight'' (1997) *''The Green Man'' (1998) *''The People on Privilege Hill'' (2007), nominated for the National Short Story Prize *''The Stories of Jane Gardam'' (2014)

Novels

*''Bilgewater'' (1977) *''

God on the Rocks ''God on the Rocks'' is a novel written by Jane Gardam and published in 1978. Plot The book is set in a small seaside resort in the north east of England and starts in 1936. ''God on the Rocks ''takes place in a madhouse, a convalescent home for ...

'' (1978); *Prix Baudelaire (France) (1989): nominated for The

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...

Best Novel (1978) *''Crusoe's Daughter'' (1985) *'' The Queen of the Tambourine'' (1991);

Whitbread Novel Award The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, th ...

(1991) *''Faith Fox'' (1996) *''The Flight of the Maidens'' (2000) *''Old Filth'' (2004) *''The Man in the Wooden Hat'' (2009) * ''Last Friends'' (2013), shortlisted for the 2014

Folio Prize The Rathbones Folio Prize, previously known as the Folio Prize and The Literature Prize, is a literary award that was sponsored by the London-based publisher The Folio Society for its first two years, 2014–2015. Starting in 2017 the sponsor is ...

Non-fiction

*''The Iron Coast'' (1994)

References

External links

* *
Jane Gardam
at

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 ...

: Literature: Writers
Interview
''The Guardian'', 29 July 2005 (retrieved 12/23/11)
Interview
''The Guardian'', 7 January 2011 (retrieved 12/21/11)
Costa Book Awards
(formerly Whitbread Book Awards) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gardam, Jane 1928 births Living people Alumni of Bedford College, London English short story writers English women novelists English children's writers Costa Book Award winners Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Officers of the Order of the British Empire British women short story writers 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English women writers 21st-century English novelists 21st-century English women writers British women children's writers People from Redcar and Cleveland 20th-century British short story writers 21st-century British short story writers