Rosalind Barber[1] (born 1964) is an English novelist, poet and academic.[2]

Dr

Ros Barber
Born1964
OccupationNovelist, poet, academic
NationalityBritish
Notable workThe Marlowe Papers
Notable awardsDesmond Elliott Prize, Authors' Club Best First Novel Award, Hoffman Prize
Website
rosbarber.com

Education

edit

She has a BSc in Biology, an MA in creative writing, the arts and education, and a PhD in English literature, all from the University of Sussex. She also has an Open University BA in English literature and philosophy.[3]

Barber has worked as a computer programmer.[4]

Novels

edit

Barber's first novel, The Marlowe Papers (2012), is written in blank verse. She subscribes to the Marlovian theory of Shakespeare authorship.[5][6] In the book, Marlowe's death is a ruse and he writes plays in Shakespeare's name. The book won the Desmond Elliott Prize[7] and the Authors' Club First Novel Award.[8] Her second novel, Devotion (2015),[9] was shortlisted for the Encore Award.[10]

Barber made an appearance at the Brighton Fringe in 2012.[11][12] She and Nicola Haydn wrote a one-man stage adaptation of The Marlowe Papers performed in 2016.[13][14]

Poetry

edit

Of Barber's three volumes of poetry, Material (2008) was a Poetry Book Society recommendation.[10] Its title poem, which also appears in the Faber anthology Poems of the Decade (2015), was in England's school sixth-form syllabus as of 2017.[15]

Academic position

edit

As of 2021, Barber lectures in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London.[16]

Awards

edit

She won the Hoffman Prize in 2011, 2014 and 2018.[17][18][1]

Year Work Award Result Ref
2011 The Marlowe Papers Hoffman Prize Won [17]
2013 Authors' Club First Novel Award Won
Desmond Elliott Prize Won
Women's Prize for Fiction Longlisted [19]
2014 "Shortly he will forget to go" Hoffman Prize Won [18]
2015 Devotion Encore Award Shortlisted [10]
2018 "Big Data, Little Certainty" Hoffman Prize Won [1]

Bibliography

edit

Novels

edit

Poetry

edit
  • How Things Are on Thursday (2004)
  • Not the Usual Grasses Singing (2005)
  • Material (2008)

Non-fiction

edit
  • 30 Second Shakespeare (2015)

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c "The Calvin & Rose G Hoffman Prize winners". The King's School, Canterbury. 13 December 2018. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  2. ^ Forward Arts. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  3. ^ Goldsmiths College site. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  4. ^ Masters, Tim (28 June 2013). "Author faced 'hostility' over book". BBC. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  5. ^ Winkler, Elizabeth (May 2023). Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies. Simon & Schuster. p. 296. ISBN 9781982171261.
  6. ^ Nicholl, Charles (25 January 2013). "Exiting the Stage". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 October 2019. Dr. Barber is a "Marlovian" not only in the generic and beneficial sense of being an admirer of Marlowe, but in the more specific and, some will say, more tiresome sense of being a believer in the theory that Marlowe wrote the plays of Shakespeare.
  7. ^ Masters, Tim (27 June 2013). "The Marlowe Papers wins Desmond Elliott Prize". BBC News. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  8. ^ "Ros Barber – The Poetry Society". poetrysociety.org.uk. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  9. ^ Feay, Suzi (19 August 2015). "Devotion by Ros Barber review – the conflict between religion and science". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  10. ^ a b c McLoughlin, Nigel (2016). The Portable Poetry Workshop. Macmillan Publishers. pp. viii. ISBN 978-1-137-60596-2. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  11. ^ Author's page. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  12. ^ Royal Literary Fund. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
  13. ^ Hall, Duncan (29 January 2016). "The Marlowe Papers, Otherplace At The Basement, Kensington Street, Brighton, until Saturday, January 29, call 01273 987516". The Argus (Brighton). Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  14. ^ Barber, Ros (12 February 2016). "Further Developments with The Marlowe Papers". Ros Barber. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  15. ^ "Amendment to GCE AS and A level English Literature, Prescribed texts – Poems of the Decade" (PDF). pearson.com. Pearson. 4 January 2017. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  16. ^ Goldsmiths page. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  17. ^ a b "THE MARLOWE PAPERS by Ros Barber | Kirkus Reviews". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  18. ^ a b "Hoffman Prize Winners". The Marlowe Society. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  19. ^ "Women's Prize for Fiction 2013 longlist announced | News | RGfE". readinggroups.org. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
edit