Tony Peake


Tony Peake is a novelist, short story writer and biographer. He was born in South Africa, but has been based in Britain since the early 1970s.

Biography

Early life

Tony Peake was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1951, to English parents. His father, , was a theatre and film director. Peake was educated at Waterkloof House Preparatory School in Pretoria, St. Martin's School in Johannesburg and at Rhodes University in Makhanda, where he read History and English, graduating with a BA degree in English in 1973.

Career

Peake moved to London, England, in 1973. He worked as a production manager at the Open Space Theatre under Charles Marowitz and Thelma Holt. In the late 1970s, he lived for a while in Ibiza and taught English, History and Drama at the Morna Valley School. Since then, he has lived in London and Mistley and worked in modelling, acting, film distribution, and as a literary agent.
As a short-story writer and essayist, Peake has contributed to four volumes of Winter’s Tales ; The Penguin Book of Contemporary South African Short Stories ; The Mammoth Book of Gay Short Stories ; New Writing 13 ; The Way We Are Now: gay and lesbian lives in the 21st century ; Seduction, a themed anthology that he also edited; Yes, I Am! Writing by South African Gay Men ; Speak My Language, and Other Stories, Best British Short Stories 2016 and Queer Life, Queer Love.
Peake is also the author of four novels, A Summer Tide, Son to the Father, North Facing and If It's Tuesday, plus the authorised biography of Derek Jarman.

Works

Books

  • A Summer Tide, ,
  • Son to the Father, ,
  • North Facing, ,
  • If It's Tuesday, ,
  • Derek Jarman: the authorised biography, ,

    Short stories

  • "Necessary Appendages", in Winter's Tales 7, edited by Robin Baird-Smith, Constable, London, 1991,
  • "Girl Dancing", in Winter's Tales 8, edited by Robin Baird-Smith, Constable, London, 1992,
  • "Necessary Appendages", in The Penguin Book of Contemporary South African Short Stories, edited by Steven Gray, Penguin, London, 1993,
  • "A Son's Story", in Winter's Tales 9, edited by Robin Baird-Smith, Constable, London, 1993,
  • "The Good Butler", in Seduction, edited by Tony Peake, Serpent's Tail, London, 1994,
  • "Crossing the Line", in Winter's Tales 10, edited by Robin Baird-Smith, Constable, London, 1994,
  • "A Son's Story", in The Mammoth Book of Gay Short Stories, edited by Peter Burton, Robinson Publishing, London, 1997,
  • "By the Pool", in The Gay Times Book of Short Stories: New Century New Writing, edited by P-P Hartnett, Gay Times Books, Millivres Ltd., London, 2000,
  • "A Portrait", in New Writing 13, edited by Toby Litt & Ali Smith, Picador, London, 2005,
  • "Fairy Tale", An essay in The Way We Are Now: gay and lesbian lives in the 21st century, edited by Ben Summerskill, Continuum, London, 2006,
  • "History Lesson", Untitled Books, September 2008
  • "Lucky for Some", Sunday Express, 17 January 2010
  • "History Lesson", in Yes, I Am! Writing by South African Gay Men, compiled by Robin Malan & Ashraf Johaardien, Cape Town: Junkets Publisher, 2010,
  • "Raw Material", in The New Writer, May/June 2010
  • "The Good Butler", in Speak My Language, and Other Stories, edited by Torsten Højer, Robinson Publishing, London, 2015,
  • "The Bluebell Wood", in Anglo Files No. 177, September 2015
  • "The Bluebell Wood", in Best British Short Stories 2016, edited by Nicholas Royle, Salt Publishing, 2016,
  • "Your Call", first place in the 2021
  • "Man Dancing", in Queer Life, Queer Love, edited by Matt Bates, Golnoosh Nour, Sarah & Kate Beal, Muswell Press, 2021,