Reading & Book Signing with Peter Benson CCCU Creative & Professional Writing THIS EVENT IS NOW POSTPONED. WE HOPE TO MEET UP WITH PETER BENSON NEXT SEMESTER. COPIES OF PETER'S NOVELS CAN BE ORDERED HERE ON IN-STORE.
Peter Benson published his first novel, The Levels, in 1987. Winner of the Guardian Fiction Prize and the Author's Club First Novel Award, it announced the arrival of a unique and distinctive voice. His subsequent books established him as a writer who refuses to accept literary norms - none of his novels bears a thematic, generic or stylistic relationship to the others - but each is written in a cryptic, understated and elegiac style.
In this Q&A with Danny Rhodes, Peter Benson talks about his writing career, the craft of writing, and his wider artistic interests which include photography, painting and basket-making. This is an in-venue event, taking place in the Lg16 lecture theatre, in Laud building.
"One of the most distinctive voices in modern British fiction“ – London Evening Standard
Peter Benson's new novel is a slick gothic tale in the English tradition, a murder mystery, a reflection on the works of the masters of the French Enlightenment and a tour of Edwardian England. More than this, it is a work of atmosphere and unease which creates a world of inhuman anxiety and suspense.
Fargo Hawkins is 20, he's Harry Swaine's gardener. One day, after he sees a fight between Harry and his wife Anne, Fargo steals a car and he, Anne and a dog called Radar go on the run. They are chased across England by Harry, a firm of detectives and their emotions. Eventually, at a caravan site in Wales, the climax between Fargo and Harry unfolds.
Weaving in the dramatic sequence of events portrayed by the Bayeux Tapestry, Peter Benson gives a striking impression of the politics, conflicts and religious beliefs of the era. With this intricately wrought and absorbing novel, he has brought to life a fascinating period of English history.
A subtly lyrical novel, written with Peter Benson's trademark wit and understatement, The Other Occupant explores the moving evolution of an unlikely relationship, against a beautiful countryside backdrop.
A compelling coming-of-age tale, in which Benson employs surfing as a metaphor, adding graceful comic details and a series of charming secondary characters, Riptide is an intense, even transcendent examination of a young man's struggle to establish his identity while facing the loss of both parents.
Orkney is a long way from London but when Bermondsey odd job man Ed and city banker Claire end up in Stromness they find anything is possible there in this compelling novel. Kind, funny, narrated by white van man Ed, Peter Benson's 'The Stromness Dinner' is the story of a very contemporary relationship in which two Londoners follow their dreams.
A tale of adventure with as many twists and turns as the enchanting Somerset landscape that forms its backdrop, Two Cows and a Vanful of Smoke is, above all, a celebration of the English countryside - full of magic, history and superstition - where smoke is in the air, and where not all is what it seems.
Peppered with memorable lines, populated by an unforgettable cast of characters and written by multi-award-winning duo Peter Benson and Alessandro Gallenzi, The Two Friends is about the triumph of hilarity in a "dreary old world".
