Biography

Holland was born near Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

 and brought up in the village of Broadchalke near Salisbury

Salisbury

Salisbury is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England and the only city in the county. It is the second largest settlement in the county...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. His younger brother is the historian and novelist James Holland. He obtained a double First in English at Queens' College, Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

, and afterwards studied shortly for a DPhil at Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

, taking Byron as his subject, before interrupting his postgraduate studies and moving to London

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...

.

He has adapted the works of Herodotus

Herodotus

Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...

, Homer

Homer

In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...

, Thucydides

Thucydides

Thucydides was a Greek historian and author from Alimos. His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC...

 and Virgil

Virgil

Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...

 for BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...

. His novels, including Attis and Deliver Us From Evil, mostly have a supernatural and horror element as well as being set in the past. He is also the author of three highly praised works of history, Rubicon, Persian Fire and Millennium.

He is the Chair of the Society of Authors

Society of Authors

The Society of Authors is a trade union for professional writers that was founded in 1884 to protect the rights of writers and fight to retain those rights .It has counted amongst its members and presidents numerous notable writers and poets including Tennyson The Society of Authors (UK) is a...

.

He lives in London with his wife and two daughters.

Series

• The Vampyre: Being the True Pilgrimage of George Gordon, Sixth Lord Byron (1995), ISBN 0-316-91227-1 (published in the U.S. as Lord of the Dead)
• Supping with Panthers (1996), ISBN 0-316-87622-4 (published in the U.S. as Slave of My Thirst)

Novels

• Attis (1995), ISBN 0-7490-0213-1
• The Vampyre: Being the True Pilgrimage of George Gordon, Sixth Lord Byron (1995), ISBN 0-7515-1361-X
• Deliver Us from Evil (1997), ISBN 0-316-88248-8
• The Sleeper in the Sands (1998), ISBN 0-316-64480-3
• The Bonehunter (2001), ISBN 0-316-64819-1

Plays

• The Importance of Being Frank (first professional performance 1991, text published 1997), ISBN 0-9530587-1-9

Non-fiction

• Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic
  Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic
  Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic is a non-fiction book written by Tom Holland, published in 2003.The book tells the story of the end of the Roman Republic and the consequent establishment of the Roman Empire. The book takes its title from the river Rubicon in the northern...
  
  (2003), ISBN 0-316-86130-8
• Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West (2005), ISBN 0-316-72664-8
• Millennium: The End of the World and the Forging of Christendom (2008), ISBN 978-0-316-73245-1
• "The Persian Way of War", essay in Lapham's Quarterly
  Lapham's Quarterly
  Lapham's Quarterly is a literary magazine founded in 2007 by former Harper's Magazine editor Lewis H. Lapham. Each issue examines a theme using primary source material from history. The inaugural issue "States of War" contained dozens of essays, speeches, and excerpts from historical authors...
  
  , Winter 2008.
• The Shadow of the Sword: Global Empire and the Rise of a New Religion (2011), ISBN 1408700077

External links

• Tom Holland's official website
• Holland's page, Conville and Walsh
  Conville and Walsh
  Conville & Walsh Ltd is a literary agency founded by Patrick Walsh and Clare Conville in 2000, and based in Soho, London. The agency numbers six book agents in a staff of eleven.Conville and Walsh is a full member of the Association of Authors' Agents....
  
  literary agents
• Interview at infinity plus by David Mathew
• Interview at SF Site by Georges T. Dodds