Barry Unsworth

Novelist Barry Unsworth was born in 1930, and grew up in a small mining community in County Durham, in the north of England. After studying English at Manchester University and completing two years of national service, Unsworth moved to France, where he lived for a year and taught English. He traveled extensively in Greece and Turkey during the 1960s, teaching at the Universities of Istanbul and Athens.

He was Visiting Literary Fellow at the Universities of Durham and Newcastle, and was Writer in Residence at Liverpool University in 1985 and at the University of Lund, Sweden, for the British Council, in 1988. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His first novel, The Partnership, was published in 1966. It was followed by The Greeks Have a Word For It (1967), The Hide (1970), and Mooncranker's Gift (1973), winner of the Heinemann Award.

Pascali's Island (1980) is set during the last years of the Ottoman empire. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction and was later adapted as a film starring Ben Kingsley. The Rage of the Vulture (1982), develops a similar historical narrative through the story of a British spy in Constantinople. Stone Virgin (1985) interpolates the story of a contemporary art restorer working on a Venetian Madonna, with related episodes set in the 14th and 18th centuries.

Sugar and Rum (1988) was inspired by Unsworth's residency at Liverpool University, and contrasts the city's contemporary problems with its prosperous heritage. Research for the book led him to write Sacred Hunger (1992), a powerful account of the Atlantic slave trade that moves from Liverpool to West Africa, Florida and the West Indies. Sacred Hunger was joint winner of the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1992.

Unsworth's recent novels include Morality Play (1995), a murder mystery set in the 14th century, and After Hannibal (1996), a portrait of warring neighbors living in modern Umbria. Losing Nelson (1999), is a portrait of a biographer with an obsessive interest in his subject. His most recent novel, set in the 12th century, is The Ruby in her Navel (2006).
Barry Unsworth lives in Umbria, Italy. He was awarded an honorary Litt.D. by Manchester University in 1998. (from)

Bibliography:

The Ruby in her Navel (2006)

The Songs of the Kings (2002)

Losing Nelson (1999)

After Hannibal (1996)

Morality Play (1995)

Sacred Hunger (1992)

Sugar and Rum (1988)

Stone Virgin (1985)

The Rage of the Vulture (1982)

Pascali's Island (1980)

The Big Day (1976)

Mooncranker's Gift (1973)

The Hide (1970)

The Greeks Have a Word For It (1967)

The Partnership (1966)

Links:

Synopsis of books
Interview
Littoral interview