Francis Spufford | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Spufford in 2024 | |
| Born | 1964 (age 61–62) |
| Occupation |
|
| Period | Since 1989 |
| Notable works | Golden Hill |
| Website | |
| www | |
Francis SpuffordFRSL (born 1964)[1] is an English author and teacher of writing whose career has shifted gradually fromnon-fiction tofiction. His first novelGolden Hill received critical acclaim and numerous prizes including theCosta Book Award for a first novel,[2] theDesmond Elliott Prize[3] and theOndaatje Prize.[4] In 2007 Spufford was elected a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Literature.
Spufford was chiefpublisher's reader from 1987–1990 forChatto & Windus.[1] He was a Royal Literary Fund fellow atAnglia Ruskin University from 2005 to 2007,[5] and since 2008 has taught atGoldsmiths College in London on the MA in Creative and Life Writing there. In 2018 he was made a professor.[6]
Spufford specialised in non-fiction for the first part of his career, but began a transition towards fiction in 2010. In 2016 he for the first time published a book which could indisputably be classified as a novel.
Spufford has also edited three anthologies:The Chatto Book of Cabbages and Kings (1989), about lists used as a literary device,The Chatto Book of the Devil (1992), andThe Antarctic (2008).
Spufford has written an unauthorised novel set in the universe ofC. S. Lewis'sNarnia series,The Stone Table. The novel takes place betweenThe Magician's Nephew andThe Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Spufford distributed self-printed copies to friends. WriterAdam Roberts praised it as "a seamless recreation of Lewis's writing-style at its best". The author hoped to obtain permission from the C. S. Lewis estate to publish it commercially, but did not receive a response from the estate. In the absence of permission, the earliest publication date would be 2034, seventy years after Lewis's death, when the copyright on the original books will expire in the UK.[7]
Spufford was born in 1964.[1] He is the son ofsocial historianMargaret Spufford (1935–2014) andeconomic historian ProfessorPeter Spufford (1934–2017). He studied English literature atTrinity Hall, Cambridge, gaining aBA in 1985.[8] Spufford lives inEly just outsideCambridge and is a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Literature.[9]
A former atheist,[10] he is now a practisingChristian and is married to an Anglican priest, the Reverend DrJessica Martin, who has served as theDean of Chelmsford since 2025.[11][12] He served from 2015 to 2021 onGeneral Synod as a lay representative of theDiocese of Ely.[13] He said in an interview that: "I'm no longer a representative of the General Synod because I was really bad at it. Being a good talker as a writer does not translate into being any kind of successful church politician."[1]
| Year | Title | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | I May Be Some Time | Somerset Maugham Award | — | Won | [14] |
| Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award | — | Won | |||
| 2003 | Backroom Boys | Aventis Prize | — | Nominated | |
| 2010 | Red Plenty | BSFA Award | Non-Fiction | Shortlisted | |
| 2011 | Orwell Prize | — | Longlisted | [15] | |
| Ondaatje Prize | — | Shortlisted | [16] | ||
| 2016 | Golden Hill | Books Are My Bag Readers' Award | Beautiful Book | Shortlisted | |
| Costa Book Award for First Novel | — | Won | [2] | ||
| 2017 | Authors' Club Best First Novel Award | — | Shortlisted | [17] | |
| British Book Awards | Debut Novel of the Year | Shortlisted | [18] | ||
| Desmond Elliott Prize | — | Won | [3] | ||
| Ondaatje Prize | — | Won | [4] | ||
| Rathbones Folio Prize | — | Shortlisted | [19] | ||
| Walter Scott Prize | — | Shortlisted | [20] | ||
| 2018 | Europese Literatuurprijs | — | Longlisted | ||
| RUSA CODES Reading Award | Historical Fiction | Shortlisted | [21] | ||
| 2021 | Light Perpetual | Booker Prize | — | Longlisted | [22] |
| HWA Crown Awards | Gold | Longlisted | |||
| 2022 | Encore Award | — | Won | ||
| 2024 | Cahokia Jazz | Sidewise Award for Alternate History | Long Form | Won | [23] |
