Peter Benson (author)


Peter Benson is the author of novels, plays, short stories and poetry, and has been described by the London Evening Standard as having "one of the most distinctive voices in modern British fiction".

Career

He has won a number of prizes for his work, including the Guardian Fiction Prize, the Encore Award and the Somerset Maugham Award, and was awarded a Society of Authors Travelling Scholarship in 1994.

Personal life

Benson is father to a daughter, Ella, by poet Carol Ann Duffy who was in a relationship with novelist and poet Jackie Kay.

Awards

The Levels – Winner, Guardian Fiction PrizeThe Levels – Winner, Authors' Club Best First Novel AwardThe Levels – Winner, Betty Trask PrizeThe Levels – Shortlisted, Whitbread Book AwardThe Levels – Shortlisted, The Premio Letterario ChiantiA Lesser Dependency – Winner, Encore AwardThe Other Occupant – Winner, Somerset Maugham AwardSociety of Authors – Awarded, Travelling Scholarship 1994Two Cows and a Vanful of Smoke – Selected, Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize 2012

Novels

  • 1987, The Levels
  • 1989, A Lesser Dependency
  • 1990, The Other Occupant
  • 1993, Odo's Hanging
  • 1994, Riptide
  • 1995, A Private Moon
  • 1997, The Shape of Clouds
  • 2011, Two Cows and a Vanful of Smoke
  • 2012, Isabel's Skin
  • 2017, The South in Winter
  • 2020, The Stromness Dinner
  • 2022, ''Kidnap Fury of the Smoking Lovers''

Plays

Short stories

  • 1987, Jude: Winter's Tales 3
  • 1988, Alan: Winter's Tales 4
  • 1988, Rajastan, 1987: 20 Under 35
  • 1990, Gates of Swimming: Winter's Tales 6
  • 2000, Dominion: New Writing 9