Celia Brayfield
Encyclopedia
Celia Brayfield is an English author, journalist and cultural commentator. She was born in London
in 1945.
, Celia decided to begin her writing career as a journalist and joined the Sixties
magazine " Nova " as a trainee sub-editor. She progressed to "The Observer
" as assistant to the
women's editor, moved to the "Evening Standard
", hired as a media columnist by Simon Jenkins
in 1974.
In 1982 she moved to "The Times
" as a television critic, and
continues to contribute frequently to that newspaper's op-ed and books pages.
The birth of her daughter Chloe in 1980 provided the final spur to Celia's ambition to become a novelist. Her Fleet Street experience of celebrity culture led to her first book as sole author, Glitter:the Truth About Fame , a non-fiction study commissioned by the legendary feminist editor Carmen Callil
at Chatto & Windus.
Shortly afterwards Callil commissioned her first novel, Pearls, the first of three tremendously successful and highly controversial genre bestsellers with strong feminist themes. From the mid-1990s Celia progressed to novels of a more literary
character, mostly contemporary comedies focused on specific social issues. Her later novels have been acclaimed, by Fay Weldon
, and others for the wit, narrative mastery and acute social observation with which they tackle modern themes.
Her latest novel, Wild Weekend a comedy that transposes the eighteenth-century play She Stoops To Conquer
to a Suffolk village in heyday of New Labour, was published by Time Warner Books in 2004. In the same year, Pan published her latest non-fiction book, Deep France an account of her year in a small village in the Bearn in South West France.
Celia developed a growing interesting in how writers learn to write while doing the rounds of promotion tours and literary festivals. Audience questions led to a series of lectures which were the foundation for Bestseller:Secrets of Successful Writing commissioned by Victoria Barnsley
at the newly launched
publisher Fourth Estate.
Celia has judged several national literary awards, including the Betty Trask Award, the Macmillan Silver Pen Award and the Authors Club First Novel prize. She served on the committee of management of The Society of Authors from 1995 to 1998.
She has taught at the Arvon Foundation and Ty Newydd centre, founded W4W, a writers’ workshop in West London, and until 2003was co-founder and co-director of the National Academy of Writing, which is linked to the University of Central England. In 2005 she joined the staff of Brunel University
, West London, becoming Director of the Creative
Writing Programme in 2006 and Reader in Creative Writing in 2007.
in Hammersmith, West London, an academic public school with a literary and political tradition; alumnae include the writers Monica Dickens
, Selina Hastings and FloraFraser, the editor of British Vogue, Alexandra Shulman
, the actors Emily Mortimer, Jennifer Saunders
, Joely Richardson
and Rachel Weisz
, and the politicians Harriet Harman
and Shirley Williams.
Her father, a dentist, opposed her literary ambitions and refused to allow her to go to university, although she spent a year
as a foreign student in France, at the Universitaire de Grenoble, studying French language and literature.
Between 1988 and 2003 she was a trustee of Gingerbread, the charity for lone parents.
Celia has one daughter and lives in Oxfordshire.
Non Fiction:
Translations, International Publication & Film Rights
Publication rights to Celia's books have been sold in the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Israel, Italy, Poland,
Russia, Spain, the United States and Zimbabwe. UK editions are sold in Australia, Canada, Eire, New Zealand and South Africa.
Her book Mr Fabulous & Friends was optioned by Friday Night Films 2004. Heartswap was optioned by Nicole Kidman via Cruise-Wagner Paramount, 2000. Harvest was optioned by Ian McShane for McShane Productions, 1996 and Pearls was optioned by TF1/Flach Film, France, in 1987.
Academic
New Writing international peer-reviewed journal of Creative Writing, Special Edition, Routledge, 2010
Celia co-edited, with Professor Graeme Harper and Dr Andrew Green, a special edition of New Writing, a leading international peer-reviewed journal for Creative Writing, dedicated to staff and students of the Brunel Creative Writing Programme.
Her own papers included in the edition: Creative Writing:the FAQ and Babelfish Babylon.
Journalism - selected articles include:
Reading:
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1945.
Career
Following her childhood role model, Robert Louis StevensonRobert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
, Celia decided to begin her writing career as a journalist and joined the Sixties
magazine " Nova " as a trainee sub-editor. She progressed to "The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
" as assistant to the
women's editor, moved to the "Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
", hired as a media columnist by Simon Jenkins
Simon Jenkins
Sir Simon David Jenkins is a British newspaper columnist and author, and since November 2008 has been chairman of the National Trust. He currently writes columns for both The Guardian and London's Evening Standard, and was previously a commentator for The Times, which he edited from 1990 to 1992...
in 1974.
In 1982 she moved to "The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
" as a television critic, and
continues to contribute frequently to that newspaper's op-ed and books pages.
The birth of her daughter Chloe in 1980 provided the final spur to Celia's ambition to become a novelist. Her Fleet Street experience of celebrity culture led to her first book as sole author, Glitter:the Truth About Fame , a non-fiction study commissioned by the legendary feminist editor Carmen Callil
Carmen Callil
Carmen Thérèse Callil is a publisher, writer and critic. She founded Virago Press in 1973.-Life:Callil was born in Melbourne Australia, but has lived in London since 1960. Her mother Lorraine Clare Allen, widowed in her early forties, raised four children of whom Carmen was the third...
at Chatto & Windus.
Shortly afterwards Callil commissioned her first novel, Pearls, the first of three tremendously successful and highly controversial genre bestsellers with strong feminist themes. From the mid-1990s Celia progressed to novels of a more literary
character, mostly contemporary comedies focused on specific social issues. Her later novels have been acclaimed, by Fay Weldon
Fay Weldon
Fay Weldon CBE is an English author, essayist and playwright, whose work has been associated with feminism. In her fiction, Weldon typically portrays contemporary women who find themselves trapped in oppressive situations caused by the patriarchal structure of British society.-Biography:Weldon was...
, and others for the wit, narrative mastery and acute social observation with which they tackle modern themes.
Her latest novel, Wild Weekend a comedy that transposes the eighteenth-century play She Stoops To Conquer
She Stoops to Conquer
She Stoops to Conquer is a comedy by the Irish author Oliver Goldsmith, son of an Anglo-Irish vicar, first performed in London in 1773. The play is a great favourite for study by English literature and theatre classes in Britain and the United States. It is one of the few plays from the 18th...
to a Suffolk village in heyday of New Labour, was published by Time Warner Books in 2004. In the same year, Pan published her latest non-fiction book, Deep France an account of her year in a small village in the Bearn in South West France.
Celia developed a growing interesting in how writers learn to write while doing the rounds of promotion tours and literary festivals. Audience questions led to a series of lectures which were the foundation for Bestseller:Secrets of Successful Writing commissioned by Victoria Barnsley
Victoria Barnsley
Victoria Barnsley, The Hon. Mrs Howard OBE is a British businesswoman and entrepreneur. She founded the publishing house Fourth Estate 1984-2000 and since 2000 has been the UK CEO of HarperCollins....
at the newly launched
publisher Fourth Estate.
Celia has judged several national literary awards, including the Betty Trask Award, the Macmillan Silver Pen Award and the Authors Club First Novel prize. She served on the committee of management of The Society of Authors from 1995 to 1998.
She has taught at the Arvon Foundation and Ty Newydd centre, founded W4W, a writers’ workshop in West London, and until 2003was co-founder and co-director of the National Academy of Writing, which is linked to the University of Central England. In 2005 she joined the staff of Brunel University
Brunel University
Brunel University is a public research university located in Uxbridge, London, United Kingdom. The university is named after the Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel....
, West London, becoming Director of the Creative
Writing Programme in 2006 and Reader in Creative Writing in 2007.
Biography
Celia was born in the north London suburb of Wembley Park and decided to become a novelist around the age of nine, inspired by the headmaster of the local school. She won a place at St Paul's Girls' SchoolSt Paul's Girls' School
St Paul's Girls' School is a senior independent school, located in Brook Green, Hammersmith, in West London, England.-History:In 1904 a new day school for girls was established by the trustees of the Dean Colet Foundation , which had run St Paul's School for boys since the sixteenth century...
in Hammersmith, West London, an academic public school with a literary and political tradition; alumnae include the writers Monica Dickens
Monica Dickens
Monica Enid Dickens, MBE was an English writer, the great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens.-Biography:...
, Selina Hastings and FloraFraser, the editor of British Vogue, Alexandra Shulman
Alexandra Shulman
Alexandra Shulman, OBE , is the editor of the British edition of Vogue. She is one of the country's most oft-quoted voices on fashion trends. She took the helm of Vogue in 1992, presiding over a circulation increase to 200,000 and a higher profile for the publication...
, the actors Emily Mortimer, Jennifer Saunders
Jennifer Saunders
Jennifer Jane Saunders is an English comedienne, screenwriter, singer and actress. She has won two BAFTAs, an International Emmy Award, a British Comedy Award, a Rose d'Or Light Entertainment Festival Award, two Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards, and a Peoples Choice Award.She first came into...
, Joely Richardson
Joely Richardson
Joely Kim Richardson is an English actress, most known recently for her role as Queen Catherine Parr in the Showtime television show The Tudors and Julia McNamara in the television drama Nip/Tuck...
and Rachel Weisz
Rachel Weisz
Rachel Hannah Weisz born 7 March 1970)is an English-American film and theatre actress and former fashion model. She started her acting career at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where she co-founded the theatrical group Cambridge Talking Tongues...
, and the politicians Harriet Harman
Harriet Harman
Harriet Ruth Harman QC is a British Labour Party politician, who is the Member of Parliament for Camberwell and Peckham, and was MP for the predecessorPeckham constituency from 1982 to 1997...
and Shirley Williams.
Her father, a dentist, opposed her literary ambitions and refused to allow her to go to university, although she spent a year
as a foreign student in France, at the Universitaire de Grenoble, studying French language and literature.
Between 1988 and 2003 she was a trustee of Gingerbread, the charity for lone parents.
Celia has one daughter and lives in Oxfordshire.
Publications
Fiction:- Wild Weekend, Time Warner Books, 2004
- Mister Fabulous And Friends, Time Warner Books, 2003
- Heartswap Little,Brown 2000, Time Warner Books 2001
- Sunset Little Brown 1999, Warner Books 2000.
- Getting Home Little Brown & Warner Books
- Harvest Viking 1995, Penguin 1996, Warner Books 1996
- White Ice Viking 1993, Penguin 1994,
- The Prince Chatto & Windus 1990, Penguin, 1991.
- Pearls Chatto & Windus 1987, Penguin 1986, Warner Books 1997
Non Fiction:
- Deep France Pan Macmillan, 2004.
- Bestseller Fourth Estate, 1996
- Glitter: The Truth About Fame Chatto & Windus, 1985
Translations, International Publication & Film Rights
Publication rights to Celia's books have been sold in the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Israel, Italy, Poland,
Russia, Spain, the United States and Zimbabwe. UK editions are sold in Australia, Canada, Eire, New Zealand and South Africa.
Her book Mr Fabulous & Friends was optioned by Friday Night Films 2004. Heartswap was optioned by Nicole Kidman via Cruise-Wagner Paramount, 2000. Harvest was optioned by Ian McShane for McShane Productions, 1996 and Pearls was optioned by TF1/Flach Film, France, in 1987.
Academic
New Writing international peer-reviewed journal of Creative Writing, Special Edition, Routledge, 2010
Celia co-edited, with Professor Graeme Harper and Dr Andrew Green, a special edition of New Writing, a leading international peer-reviewed journal for Creative Writing, dedicated to staff and students of the Brunel Creative Writing Programme.
Her own papers included in the edition: Creative Writing:the FAQ and Babelfish Babylon.
Journalism - selected articles include:
- Fancy food is enough to turn your stomach The Times, December 23, 2009
- The Times Christmas Books: Travel The Times, November 28, 2009
- Bombay Sapphires: The Immortals by Amit Chaudhuri The Times, Saturday March 14, 2009
- The Last Supper:A Summer in Italy by Rachel Cusk The Times, January 30, 2009
- In Search of a Feeling For Snow:The Times Christmas Books 2008: Travel The Times, November 28, 2008
- Horticultural Who's Who:Abderrazak Benchaabane BBC Gardens Illustrated July 2008
- It's not hard to say goodbye (to the hardback book) The Times, November 21, 2007
- A Faraway Look in their Eyes (travel writing) The Times, December 6, 2007
Reading:
- Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig The Times, November 2, 2007
- Farewell to Harry (and the bean-counters) The Times, July 21, 2007
- Get your kicks on Route 312 The Times, June 30, 2007
- It is a truth universally....oh give it a rest, will you (Austen adaptations) The Times, March 12, 2007
- Roll up, roll up and watch the Mona Lisa weep The Times, February 19, 2007
- Taking On Goliath:L'Oreal Took My Home by Monica Waitzfelder The New Statesman, February 19, 2007
- Required Reading:Shadow of the Silk Road Colin Thubron The Times, September 9, 2006
- The Lion, the Witch and the Inklings The Times, November 22, 2005
- I’m a Different Person Now:Serious Head Injury (interview), The Times, July 9, 2005.
- Far Far Better Things The Times, July 2, 2005
- So Your Cat Died (exam marking) The Times, May 9, 2005
- The Discerning Woman Isn't Easy To Please (launch of Easy Living magazine) The Times, T2 cover story, March 2, 2005.
- Brits tame the wild frontiers: one in three wants to emigrate, but the expats will still write home for marmalade The New Statesman June 14, 2004