Susanna Clarke biography
Susanna Clarke, a Methodist Minister’s eldest daughter was born in Nottingham, England in 1959. Oxford educated (philosophy, politics and economics at St Hilda’s College), she is best known for her award winning novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, which was published in 2004.
Clarke spent eight years working in publishing before moving to Turin, Italy in 1990. In Italy she taught English to employees of the Fiat motor company before moving to Bilbao in Spain in 1991 to teach English. She moved back to England in 1992.
In 1993, she began writing Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. The novel took ten years to complete, and a period she herself describes as "a crazy amount of time to spend on anything". During these ten years she worked as a cookery editor for the company Simon and Schuster in Cambridge. The book is dedicated to Susanna Clarke's brother Paul Frederick Gunn Clarke, who died in the year 2000.
Susanna Clarke interview with BBC Nottingham
Although it took the publication of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell to make Susanna Clarke a household name, she had already had seven short stories published in the United States. Of these, Mr Simonelli, or The Fairy Widower was short listed for the 1991 World Fantasy Award.
Awards
- Time's Best Novel of the Year (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell) - 2004
- Hugo Award for Best Novel (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell) - 2005
- World Fantasy Award for Best Novel (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell) - 2005
- Locus Award for Best First Novel (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell) - 2005
- Mythopoeic Award for Adult Literature (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell) - 2005
- British Book Awards Newcomer of the Year Award (Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell) - 2005
These are her five favourite authors as mentioned in a BBC interview.
- Jane Austen
- Alan Moore
- Charles Dickens
- Neil Gaiman
- Joss Whedon
Susanna Clarke lists boredom and listlessness as two contributing factors in becoming a writer.
Susanna Clarke is married to fellow author Colin Greenland and is currently writing a follow up to Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell but set a few years in the future and centres on different characters. She currently lives in Cambridge.
Visit www.jonathanstrange.com to read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell's own reactions to Susanna Clarke's novel as well as their views on the author. You'll also find Susanna Clarke's short story, "The Duke of Wellington Misplaces His Horse", an interview, e-cards, a readers' guide and many other magical things...
Susanna Clarke books
- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
- The Ladies of Grace Adieu: And Other Stories
Latest news: Susanna Clarke
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, read by Simon Prebble
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is arguably one of the finest fantasy books ever written. This audio telling of Susanna Clarke’s book is undeniably the best that I have listened to so far. It is a BIG book. It requires a good thirty-two hours of listening and, like the book itself, requires commi [...]
Best selling sci-fi/fantasy audio-books – October 2009 – Audible.co.uk
October 2009 sees some exciting new audio books enter the top 10. Not content with having the #1 spot Audrey Niffenegger now has another title winging its way towards with top with Her Fearful Symmetry entering at #10. Iain Banks’s Transition enters the list in an impressive 2nd place while Terry Pr [...]
David Whitley interview (October 2009)
David Whitley was born in 1984 and graduated from the University of Oxford with a double first in English Literature and a passion for writing children’s fiction. At age 17 his first children’s novel was shortlisted for the Kathleen Fidler Award and at 20 he won the Cheshire Prize for Literature fo [...]
Niffenegger praises Jonathan Strange, JK Rowling tweets and thumbs up for Ghost Hunter
Here follows a round-up of the best fantasy-related news items from the past seven days. Audrey Niffenegger’s novel The Time Traveller's Wife has sold more than five million copies. In a recent interview she was asked “What book do you wish you’d written?” And her reply? “Jonathan Strange and Mr N [...]
Best selling sci-fi/fantasy audio-books – September 2009 – Audible.co.uk
September 2009 sees Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series still maintaining a stranglehold on the top 10 sci-fi/fantasy audio-book downloads, as listed by Audible.co.uk. Fantasy Book Review favourite Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (Susanna Clarke), read by Simon Prebble, is still performing well (w [...]
Best selling Sci-Fi & Fantasy audio-books – May 2009 – Audible.co.uk
Stephenie Meyer pretty much sweeps the board in May 2009 with two most downloaded Sci Fi/Fantasy audio-books on Audible.co.uk. The Phoenix-based author also has another two entries inside the top 10. It is great to see that Simon Prebble’s reading of Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr Norre [...]
Simon Prebble interview (March 2009)
British born performer Simon Prebble is a stage, film and television actor who has played everything from Soaps to Shakespeare. As a narrator of some 350 audio book titles he has received critical acclaim from both fans and peers. He is one of Audiofile’s ‘Golden Voices’ and Voices of the Century’, [...]
Join The Cambridge News Book Club today!
To celebrate World Book Day, the Cambridge News has teamed up with Heffers to launch The Cambridge News Book Club - a fantastic new service designed to save you money on the best new fiction and non-fiction titles.
From AA Milne to EM Forster, Lord Byron to Lord Archer, Midnight's Children to Tom [...]
Fantasy Audio-book Review
An audio-book is a book that is read out aloud by a narrator and was originally mainly available in the tape format but can now be purchased on CD and also downloaded in mp3 / mp4 format. Audio-books are extremely useful because they can help children learn to read and are also invaluable to the bli [...]
Best selling fantasy audio-books - October 2008 - Audible.co.uk
Terry Pratchett and Philip Pullman are, once again, the most popular fantasy authors that have been recorded onto audio-books. It is Christopher Paolini, however, with the third instalment of his Inheritance Cycle that appears from nowhere to take top spot. The book was released amongst (almost) JK [...]
Susanna Clarke interviews
The Nottingham born author is interviewed by her local BBC shortly before the release of her much anticipated novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Susanna Clarke interview with BBC Nottingham >>
Susanna Clarke critical acclaim
"Dazzling, witty and gleefully entertaining ... A triumph of traditional imaginative storytelling, this is an energetic, engaging and inventive tale that simply kidnaps the lucky reader to participate in a rare experience" Irish Times
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Some doors are better left closed . . . In Barrington House, an upmarket block in London, there is an empty apartment. No one goes in, no one comes out. And it’s been that way for fifty years. Until the night watchman hears a disturbance after midnight and investigates. What he experiences is enough to change his life forever.
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