Adèle Geras


Adèle Daphne Geras is an English writer for young children, teens and adults.
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Early life

Geras was born in Jerusalem, British Mandatory Palestine to British Jewish parents. Her father was in the Colonial Service and she had a varied childhood, living in countries such as Nigeria, Cyprus, Tanganyika, Gambia and British North Borneo in a short span of time. She attended Roedean School in Brighton and then graduated from St Hilda's College, Oxford with a degree in Modern Languages. She was known for her stage and vocal talents, but decided instead to become a full-time writer.

Work

Geras's first book was Tea at Mrs Manderby's, which was published in 1976. Her first full-length novel was The Girls in the Velvet Frame. She has written more than 95 books for children, young adults, and adults. Other works include Troy ''Ithaka, Happy Ever After, Silent Snow, Secret Snow, and A Thousand Yards of Sea.
Her novels for adults include: Facing the Light, Hester's Story, Made in Heaven, and A Hidden Life.
In December 2020, Geras appeared as a member of the team from St Hilda's College Oxford in the Christmas Special of BBC Two's University Challenge''.

Awards

Geras won two prizes in the United States, the Sydney Taylor Book Award for the My Grandmother's Stories and the National Jewish Book Award for Golden Windows. She has also won prizes for her poetry and was a joint winner of the Smith Doorstop Poetry Pamphlet Award, offered by the publisher of that name. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2014.

Personal life

Geras's husband was the Marxist academic Norman Geras; they had two daughters, the novelist and poet Sophie Hannah, and Jenny, employed at Macmillan Publishers. They married two brothers.