Forthcoming Events

	Wednesday 22 February, 6.30pm David Waller   Sexuality and celebrity at the fin de siècle: David Waller will give an illustrated talk on the life and muscular times of Eugen Sandow, the Victorian strongman who is the subject of his new book, The Perfect Man. Further details here.   A Savile Club/Biographers' Club event Date: 22 February, 6.30pm for 7pm Venue: Savile Club, 69 Brook Street, London W1K 4ER.   Tickets: wine and talk, £10; dinner, a further £30. Members of the Biographers' Club should book with Maja at the Savile on 020 7491 5563, or "maja at savileclub dot co dot uk".
	Wednesday 7 March, 6.30pm What do literary editors and reviewers want?    Following our highly popular debates featuring publishers and agents, we ask leading literary editors and reviewers to reveal the secrets of how they work. What kinds of books are likely to find favour with them? How do they juggle the sometimes competing factors of literary merit, newsworthiness, and popularity? How is the role of the editor and critic changing? With: Lynne Hatwell, Dove Grey Reader Andrew Holgate, Sunday Times Jeremy Lewis, Oldie/Literary Review, and biographer Sandra Parsons, Daily Mail Date: Wednesday, 7 March, 6.30pm. Venue: Swedenborg Hall, 20-21 Bloomsbury Way, London WC1A 2TH.   Tickets: £10 (an open event). Please send cheques (made out to the Biographers’ Club) to Jane Mays, 21 Marsden Street, London NW5 3HE.
	Tuesday 27 March, 6.30pm Sarah Bradford, Robert Lacey, Philip Ziegler: Royal Biographies Come and hear three of our most noted royal biographers in this Diamond Jubilee event. Sarah Bradford and Robert Lacey have updated their acclaimed biographies of the Queen, while Philip Ziegler’s notable contributions to the genre have included Elizabeth’s Britain and his acclaimed life of the monarch’s uncle, Edward VIII. What are the pleasures and constraints involved in writing about royalty? Date: Tuesday 27  March, 6.30pm. Venue: to be confirmed.

HW Fisher Tax Seminar for Authors

For those of you unable to attend the tax seminar on 9 November, hosted by HW Fisher & Company (sponsor of the Best First Biography Prize), please see the link below:

http://www.hwfisher.co.uk/index.php/publications/354-biographers-club-tax-talk

For further information please contact:

Andrew Subramaniam 

+44 (0)20 7380 4947

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Our thanks to Andrew, Andy, Ajay and Juan for their enlightening expertise and generous hospitality.

The Biographers’ Club announces the winners of its three prizes, 25 October at the Oriental Club

From a record entry of 68 titles, the winner of this year’s £5,000 HW Fisher Best First Biography Prize was Matthew Hollis for Now All Roads Lead to France: The Last Years of Edward Thomas, published by Faber. Speaking on behalf of the judges, Michael Prodger said: ‘Matthew Hollis's Now All Roads Lead to France is not just an account of one of the First World War’s less starry poets but of two worlds. The first is the febrile poetry world of the time, full of arguments, striving and intense friendships; the second is the world of creativity inside Thomas's head and just how the poems came about and were crafted. Hollis depicts both with extraordinary insight and in prose that is in the very best sense poetic.’ 

Shortlisted entrants:

Mysterious Wisdom: The Life and Work of Samuel Palmer – Rachel Campbell-Johnston (Bloomsbury)
The Children of Lovers: A Memoir of William Golding by His Daughter – Judy Golding (Faber)
William Armstrong: Magician of the North – Henrietta Heald (Northumbria Press)
Andrew Marvell: The Chameleon – Nigel Smith (Yale University Press)
Catherine of Aragon: Henry’s Spanish Queen – Giles Tremlett (Faber)

Judges: Anne Sebba, whose nine books include That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson; Nicholas Clee, joint editor of Bookbrunch and the author of Eclipse; and Michael Prodger, critic and former literary editor of the Sunday Telegraph. 

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The winner of the £2,000 Tony Lothian Prize was Jane Gordon-Cumming for The American Heiress and the Scottish Rake: The True Story of the Royal Baccarat Scandal. On behalf of the judges, Valerie Grove said: ‘A famous scandal at the card table, involving the Prince of Wales; an American heiress, one of three sisters who married into the Victorian aristocracy; an opening scene of thrilling drama, as a splendid yacht sinks in a storm. “A cracking good story here,” as Jane Gordon-Cumming confidently told us, and the judges agreed. The American heiress was her grandmother Florence; the Scottish rake her grandfather Sir William Gordon-Cumming – both “flawed, exasperating, eccentric but huge characters”. A sure winner.’

Shortlisted entrants:

Chas Chandler: The Man Who Made Hendrix – Elaine Cusack

Snow Widows: Married to the Antarctic – Katherine MacInnes

Profile in String: The Life of Barbara Skelton – Graham Page
Richard Aldington: Poet, Soldier and Lover – Vivien Whelpton

This prize is for the best proposal by an unpublished, first-time biographer. For summaries of all the shortlisted entries please click here. 

Judges: Valerie Grove, journalist and biographer of Laurie Lee and John Mortimer, among others; Jane Mays, consulting literary editor at the Daily Mail; and David Waller, author of The Magnificent Mrs Tennant.

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The Lifetime Services to Biography Prize went to Selina Hastings, author of The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham, Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh, among others. The Prize was presented by Philip Ziegler, the previous year’s winner.

The after-dinner speaker was Victoria Glendinning, CBE, the distinguished biographer of Anthony Trollope, Vita Sackville-West, Elizabeth Bowen and Rebecca West.