Sarah Waters  

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-'''Sarah Waters''' (born 21 July 1966) is a Welsh novelist. She is best known for her novels set in [[Victorian era|Victorian society]] and featuring lesbian protagonists, such as ''[[Tipping the Velvet]]'' and ''[[Fingersmith (novel)|Fingersmith]]''.+'''Sarah Waters''' (born 21 July 1966) is a [[Welsh novelist]]. She is best known for her novels set in [[Victorian era|Victorian society]] and featuring [[lesbian]] protagonists, such as ''[[Tipping the Velvet]]'' and ''[[Fingersmith (novel)|Fingersmith]]''.
- +== Novels ==
-==Personal life==+
- +
-===Childhood===+
- +
-Sarah Waters was born in [[Neyland]], [[Pembrokeshire]], Wales in 1966.+
- +
-She grew up in a family that included her father Ron, mother Mary, and a sister. Her mother was a housewife and her father an engineer who worked on oil refineries.<ref name="Guardian">{{cite news |last=Allardice |first=Lisa |title=Uncharted Waters |work=[[The Guardian]] |location=UK | date =1 June 2006 | url =http://books.guardian.co.uk/hay2006/story/0,,1787355,00.html |accessdate =24 February 2007 }}</ref> She describes her family as "pretty idyllic, very safe and nurturing". Her father, "a fantastically creative person", encouraged her to build and invent.<ref name="litnet">{{cite news |last=McGrane |first=Michelle |title=Sarah Waters on writing: 'If I waited for inspiration to strike, it would never happen!' (Interview) |publisher=LitNet |year=2006 |url =http://www.litnet.co.za/cgi-bin/giga.cgi?cmd=cause_dir_news_item&news_id=3630&cause_id=1270 | accessdate=24 February 2007}}</ref>+
- +
-Waters said, "When I picture myself as a child, I see myself constructing something, out of [[plasticine]] or [[papier-mâché]] or [[Meccano]]; I used to enjoy writing poems and stories, too." She wrote stories and poems that she describes as "dreadful gothic pastiches", but had not planned her career.<ref name="litnet"/> Despite her obvious enjoyment of writing, she did not feel any special calling or preference for becoming a novelist in her youth.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.timeout.com/london/books/features/144/2.html |title=Sarah Waters: Interview |deadurl=no |accessdate=27 July 2012}}</ref>+
- +
-{{cquote|I don’t know if I thought about it much, really. I know that, for a long time, I wanted to be an archaeologist – like lots of kids. And I think I knew I was headed for university, even though no one else in my family had been. I really enjoyed learning. I remember my mother telling me that I might one day go to university and write a thesis, and explaining what a thesis was; and it seemed a very exciting prospect. I was clearly a bit of a nerd.<ref name="litnet"/>|}}+
- +
-===Education===+
- +
-After [[Milford Haven School|Milford Haven Grammar School]], Waters attended university and earned degrees in English literature. She received a BA from the [[University of Kent]], an MA from [[Lancaster University]], and a PhD from [[Queen Mary, University of London]]. Her PhD thesis, entitled ''Wolfskins and togas : lesbian and gay historical fictions, 1870 to the present'',<ref>The thesis can be downloaded from the [[British Library]]'s [http://ethos.bl.uk/Home.do EthOS Archive]: [http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?did=1&uin=uk.bl.ethos.393332 uk.bl.ethos.393332]</ref> served as inspiration and material for future books. As part of her research she read 19th-century pornography, in which she came across the title of her first book, ''[[Tipping the Velvet]]''.<ref name="bio"/> However, her literary influences are also found in the popular classics of Victorian literature, such as [[Charles Dickens]], [[Wilkie Collins]] and the Brontës, and in the contemporary novelists that combine a keen interest in Victoriana with a post-modernist approach to fiction, especially [[A.S. Byatt]] and [[John Fowles]]. [[Angela Carter]]'s 'Nights at the Circus' had a huge influence on her début novel as well, and Waters praises her for her literary prose, her "common touch", and her commitment to feminism.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.argief.litnet.co.za/cgi-bin/giga.cgi?cmd=cause_dir_news_item&news_id=3630&cause_id=1270 |title=Sarah Waters on writing: ''If I waited for inspiration to strike, it would never happen!'' |deadurl=no |accessdate=27 July 2012}}</ref>+
- +
-===Daily life===+
-Waters lives in a top-floor [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]] flat in [[Kennington]], south-east London.<ref name="Guardian"/><ref name="bio">{{cite web | last =Waters | first =Sarah | title =Biography | publisher =sarahwaters.com | url =http://www.sarahwaters.com/biog.htm | accessdate =24 February 2007 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070217174712/http://www.sarahwaters.com/biog.htm |archivedate = 17 February }}</ref>+
- +
-==Career==+
-Before writing novels, Waters worked as an academic, earning a doctorate and teaching.<ref name="virago">{{cite news |last=Page |first=Benedicte |title=Her Thieving Hands |publisher=Virago |url=http://www.virago.co.uk/author_results.asp?SF1=data&ST1=feature&REF=e2006111617063697&SORT=author_id&TAG=&CID=&PGE=&LANG=en |accessdate=17 November 2011}}</ref> Waters went directly from her doctoral thesis to her first novel. It was during the process of writing her thesis that she thought she would write a novel; she began as soon as the thesis was complete.<ref name="litnet"/> Her work is very research-intensive, which is an aspect she enjoys.<ref name="AfterEllen">{{cite news | last =Lo | first =Malinda | title =Interview with Sarah Waters | publisher =AfterEllen.com | date =6 April 2006 | url =http://www.afterellen.com/Print/2006/4/waters.html | accessdate =17 November 2011 }}</ref> Waters was briefly a member of the long-running London North Writers circle, whose members have included the novelists [[Charles Palliser]] and [[Neil Blackmore]], among others.<ref>{{cite web | title =North London Writers Official Website | url =http://www.northlondonwriters.co.uk/ | accessdate =17 November 2011 }}</ref>+
- +
-With the exception of ''The Little Stranger'', all of her books contain lesbian themes, and she does not mind being labelled a lesbian writer. She said, "I'm writing with a clear lesbian agenda in the novels. It's right there at the heart of the books." Despite this "common agenda in teasing out lesbian stories from parts of history that are regarded as quite heterosexual",<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/sarah-waters-is-there-a-poltergeist-within-me-1692335.html |title=Sarah Waters: 'Is there a poltergeist within me?' |deadurl=no |accessdate=27 July 2012 |location=London |work=The Independent |date=29 May 2009}}</ref> she also calls her lesbian protagonists "incidental", due to her own sexual orientation. "That's how it is in my life, and that's how it is, really, for most lesbian and gay people, isn't it? It's sort of just there in your life."<ref name="AfterEllen"/>+
- +
-===''Tipping the Velvet'' (1998)===+
- +
-{{main|Tipping the Velvet}}+
- +
-Her debut work was the [[Victorian era|Victorian]] [[picaresque]] ''[[Tipping the Velvet]]'', published by Virago in 1998. The novel took 18 months to write.<ref name="indiebound">{{cite news |last=Hogan |first=Ron |title=Sarah Waters (Interview) |publisher=IndieBound |url=http://www.indiebound.org/author-interviews/waterssarah |accessdate=17 November 2011}}</ref> The book takes its title from Victorian slang for [[cunnilingus]].<ref name="bio"/> Waters describes the novel as a "very upbeat [...] kind of a romp".<ref name="indiebound"/>+
- +
-It won a 1999 [[Betty Trask Award]], and was shortlisted for the Mail on Sunday / [[John Llewellyn Rhys Prize]].<ref name="bio"/>+
- +
-In 2002, the novel was adapted into a three-part television serial of the same name for [[BBC Two]]. It has been translated into at least 24 languages, including Chinese, [[Latvian language|Latvian]], Hungarian, Korean and [[Slovenian language|Slovenian]].<ref name="Time Out">{{cite news | title =Sarah Waters: Interview | publisher =Time Out London | url =http://www.timeout.com/london/books/features/144.html | accessdate =24 February 2007}}</ref>+
- +
-===''Affinity'' (1999)===+
- +
-{{main|Affinity (novel)}}+
- +
-Waters's second book, ''[[Affinity (novel)|Affinity]]'' was published a year after her first, in 1999. The novel, also set in the [[Victorian era]], centres on the world of Victorian [[Spiritualism (religious movement)|Spiritualism]]. While finishing her [[debut novel]], Waters had been working on an academic paper on spiritualism. She combined her interests in spiritualism, prisons, and the Victorian era in ''Affinity'', which tells the story of the relationship between an upper middle-class woman and an imprisoned spiritualist.+
- +
-The novel is less light-hearted than the ones that preceded and followed it. Waters found it less enjoyable to write.<ref name="indiebound"/> "It was a very gloomy world to have to go into every day", she said.<ref name="powells">{{cite news | title =Sarah Waters: From Victoria to VE Day (Interview) | publisher =Powells | url =http://www.powells.com/authors/sarahwaters.html | accessdate =24 February 2007}}</ref>+
- +
-''Affinity'' won the [[Stonewall Book Award]] and [[Somerset Maugham Award]]. [[Andrew Davies (writer)|Andrew Davies]] wrote a screenplay adapting ''Affinity'' and the resulting feature film premiered 19 June 2008 at the opening night of [[Frameline]] the San Francisco LGBT Film Festival at the [[Castro Theater]].+
- +
-===''Fingersmith'' (2002)===+
- +
-{{main|Fingersmith (novel)}}+
- +
-''[[Fingersmith (novel)|Fingersmith]]'' was published in 2002. It was shortlisted for the [[Booker Prize]] and the [[Orange Prize for Fiction|Orange Prize]].+
- +
-''Fingersmith'' was made into a serial for [[BBC One]] in 2005, starring [[Sally Hawkins]], [[Elaine Cassidy]] and [[Imelda Staunton]]. Waters approved of the adaptation, calling it "a really good quality show", and said it was "very faithful to the book. It was spookily faithful to the book at times, which was exciting."<ref name="AfterEllen"/> The novel was later adapted again by [[South Korean]] director [[Park Chan-wook]] into the 2016 film ''[[The Handmaiden]]'', which set the story in South Korea in the 1930s.+
- +
-''Fingersmith'' was named by singer and artist David Bowie as one of his "top 100 books".<ref name="Bowiefav">{{cite web|title=Bowie’s top 100 books - the complete list|url=http://www.davidbowie.com/news/bowie-s-top-100-books-complete-list-52061|website=David Bowie|accessdate=24 June 2016}}</ref>+
- +
-===''The Night Watch'' (2006)===+
- +
-{{main|The Night Watch (Waters novel)}}+
- +
-''[[The Night Watch (Waters novel)|The Night Watch]]'' took four years for Waters to write.<ref name="litnet"/> It differs from the first three novels in its time period and its structure. Although her thesis and previous books focused on the 19th century, Waters said that "Something about the 1940s called to me".<ref name="litnet"/> It was also less tightly plotted than her other books. Waters said,+
- +
-{{cquote|I had more or less to figure the book out as I went along – a very time-consuming and unnerving experience for me, as I tried out scenes and chapters in lots of different ways. I ended up with a pile of rejected scenes about three feet high. It was satisfying in the end, realising just what should go where; but a lot of the time it felt like a wrestling match.<ref name="litnet"/>|}}+
- +
-The novel tells the stories of a man and three women in 1940s London. Waters describes it as "fundamentally a novel about disappointment and loss and betrayal", as well as "real contact between people and genuine intimacy".<ref name="AfterEllen"/>+
- +
-In 2005, Waters received the highest bid (£1,000) during a charity auction in which the prize was the opportunity to have the winner's name immortalised in ''The Night Watch.'' The auction featured many notable British novelists, and the name of the bidder, author [[Martina Cole]], appeared in Waters' novel.<ref name="auction">{{cite news | title =Book role auction nudges £20,000 |publisher=BBC News | date =31 March 2004 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3586013.stm | accessdate =24 February 2007}}</ref>+
- +
-''The Night Watch'' was adapted for television by BBC2 and broadcast on 12 July 2011.+
- +
-=== ''The Little Stranger'' (2009) ===+
-{{main|The Little Stranger}}+
- +
-Also set in the 1940s, ''The Little Stranger'' also differs from Waters' previous novels. It is her first with no overtly lesbian characters. Initially, Waters set out to write a book about the economic changes brought by socialism in postwar Britain, and reviewers note the connection with [[Evelyn Waugh]].<ref>Didock, Barry (30 May 2009). "Capturing the spirit of the age: A haunting novel evokes the claustrophobia of postwar Britain", ''The Herald'' (Glasgow), p. 9.</ref> During the novel's construction, it turned into a ghost story, focusing on a family of gentry who own a large country house they can no longer afford to maintain.+
- +
-===''The Paying Guests'' (2014)===+
-{{main|The Paying Guests}}+
-This novel is set in the 1920s, in the social and economic aftermath of [[World War I]].<ref name=obs>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Observer]]|date=7 September 2014|title=The Paying Guests review – another wild ride of a novel from Sarah Waters|first=Tracy|last=Chevalier|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/07/the-paying-guests-wild-ride-novel-sarah-waters|accessdate=4 October 2014}}</ref> Households are in reduced circumstances and Frances Wray and her mother have to take in lodgers to keep going. The developing lesbian relationship between Frances and lodger Lilian Barber provides a complex backdrop for a murder investigation that takes up the latter half of the book. ''The Observer'' said: "The inimitable Sarah Waters handles a dramatic key change with aplomb in her new novel set in 1920s south London".<ref name=obs/> ''The Telegraph'' described it as "eerie, virtuoso writing".<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[Daily Telegraph]]|first=Lucy|last=Daniel|date=30 August 2014|title=The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters, review: 'eerie, virtuoso writing'|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/11061441/The-Paying-Guests-by-Sarah-Waters-review-eerie-virtuoso-writing.html|accessdate=4 October 2014}}</ref>+
- +
-==Awards==+
- +
-Sarah Waters was named as one of Granta's 20 Best of Young British Writers in January 2003. The same year, she received the South Bank Award for Literature. She was named Author of the Year at the 2003 British Book Awards.<ref name="bio"/> In both 2006 and 2009 she won "Writer of the Year" at the annual [[Stonewall Awards]]. She was elected a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Literature]] in 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.rslit.org/content/fellows|title = Royal Society of Literature All Fellows|publisher= Royal Society of Literature|accessdate =10 August 2010}}</ref>+
- +
-Each of her novels has received awards as well.+
- +
-===''Tipping the Velvet''===+
-* [[Betty Trask Award]], 1999+
-* Library Journal's Best Book of the Year, 1999+
-* Mail on Sunday/[[John Llewellyn Rhys Prize]], 1999+
-* New York Times Notable Book of the Year Award, 1999+
-* Ferro-Grumley Award for Lesbian and Gay Fiction (shortlist), 2000+
-* [[Lambda Literary Award]] for Fiction, 2000+
- +
-===''Affinity''===+
-* [[Stonewall Book Award]] (American Library Association GLBT Roundtable Book Award), 2000+
-* Arts Council of Wales Book of the Year Award (shortlist), 2000+
-* Ferro-Grumley Award for Lesbian and Gay Fiction, 2000+
-* Lambda Literary Award for Fiction (shortlist), 2000+
-* Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize (shortlist), 2000+
-* [[Somerset Maugham Award]], 2000+
-* [[Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award]], 2000+
-* The Best Translated Crime Fiction of the Year in Japan, ''[[Kono Mystery ga Sugoi!#2004|Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! 2004]]''+
- +
-===''Fingersmith''===+
-* British Book Awards Author of the Year, 2002+
-* [[Crime Writers' Association]] Ellis Peters Historical Dagger, 2002+
-* [[Man Booker Prize]] for Fiction (shortlist), 2002+
-* [[Orange Prize]] for Fiction (shortlist), 2002+
-* The Best Translated Crime Fiction of the Year in Japan, ''[[Kono Mystery ga Sugoi!#2005|Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! 2005]]''+
- +
-===''The Night Watch''===+
-* Man Booker Prize for Fiction (shortlist), 2006+
-* Orange Prize for Fiction (shortlist), 2006+
-* [[Lambda Literary Award]], 2007+
- +
-===''The Little Stranger''===+
-* Man Booker Prize for Fiction (shortlist), 2009<ref name="cp-02dec2009">{{cite news|title=Sarah signs in for fans|date=2 December 2009|work=Croydon Post|publisher=[[Northcliffe Media]]|pages=12|accessdate=4 December 2009|quote=A library was bursting at the seams when Man Booker Prize short-listed author Sarah Waters visited... [she] signed copies of The Little Stranger, her novel praised by the prestigious literary prize's judges this year.}}</ref>+
-* Nominee for [[Shirley Jackson Award]], 2009<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.shirleyjacksonawards.org/sja_2009_winners.php |title = 2009 Shirley Jackson Awards Winners |publisher= The Shirley Jackson Awards |accessdate =17 November 2011}}</ref>+
- +
-===''The Paying Guests''===+
-* [[Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction]] (shortlist) 2015+
- +
-==Bibliography==+
-{{Expand list|date=December 2016}}+
-===Non-fiction===+
-*{{cite journal |author=Waters, Sarah |title='A Girton Girl on a throne' : Queen Christina and versions of lesbianism, 1906-1933 |journal=Feminist Review |issue=46 |doi=10.2307/1395418 |pages=41–60 | year = 1994}}+
-* {{Cite journal | last1 = Waters | first1 = S. | title = "The Most Famous Fairy in History": Antinous and Homosexual Fantasy | journal = Journal of the History of Sexuality | volume = 6 | issue = 2 | pages = 194–230 | doi = 10.2307/3704122| year = 1995 | pmid = | pmc = }}+
-*{{cite thesis |author=Waters, Sarah |date=1995 |title=Wolfskins and togas : lesbian and gay historical fictions, 1870 to the present |type=PhD thesis |publisher=Queen Mary, University of London |docket= |oclc= |url=http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?did=1&uin=uk.bl.ethos.393332 |<!--access-date=2016-12-23-->}}+
-=== Novels ===+
* ''[[Tipping the Velvet]]'', 1998 * ''[[Tipping the Velvet]]'', 1998
* ''[[Affinity (novel)|Affinity]]'', 1999 * ''[[Affinity (novel)|Affinity]]'', 1999
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* ''[[The Little Stranger]]'', 2009 * ''[[The Little Stranger]]'', 2009
* ''[[The Paying Guests]]'', 2014 * ''[[The Paying Guests]]'', 2014
-===Critical studies and reviews of Waters' work=== 
-*{{cite journal |author=Hughes, Emma |authorlink= |authormask= |date=Sep 10, 2014 |title=[Untitled review of ''The paying guests''] |department=Books |journal=Country Life |volume=208 |issue=37 |pages=138 |url= |<!--accessdate=-->}} 
- 
-==Adaptations== 
-{{col-begin}} 
-{{col-2}} 
- 
-===Television=== 
-* ''[[Tipping the Velvet (TV serial)|Tipping the Velvet]]'' (2002), BBC Two 
-* ''[[Fingersmith (TV serial)|Fingersmith]]'' (2005), BBC One 
-* ''[[Affinity (film)|Affinity]]'' (2008), ITV1 
-* ''[[The Night Watch (Waters novel)#TV-movie adaptation|The Night Watch]]'' (2011), BBC Two 
-{{col-2}} 
- 
-===Stage=== 
-* ''[[Tipping the Velvet (play)|Tipping the Velvet]]'' (2015) 
-{{col-end}} 
- 
-=== Film === 
-*''[[The Handmaiden]]'' 
- 
-== References == 
-{{reflist|colwidth=30em}} 
- 
-==External links== 
- 
-{{Commons category}} 
-*[http://www.sarahwaters.com Official website] 
-*[http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth03A23O034012634831 British Council Biography and Bibliography] 
-*[http://www.virago.co.uk/author_results.asp?sf1=data&st1=profile&exp=V-W-X|&ref=e2006111617063697 Virago Profile] 
- 
-{{Sarah Waters}} 
- 
-{{Authority control}} 
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-{{DEFAULTSORT:Waters, Sarah}} 
-[[Category:1966 births]] 
-[[Category:Living people]] 
-[[Category:Alumni of Lancaster University]] 
-[[Category:Alumni of Queen Mary University of London]] 
-[[Category:Alumni of the University of Kent]] 
-[[Category:British Book Award winners]] 
-[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature]] 
-[[Category:Lambda Literary Award winners]] 
-[[Category:Lesbian writers]] 
-[[Category:LGBT writers from Wales]] 
-[[Category:People from Pembrokeshire]] 
-[[Category:Welsh women novelists]] 
-[[Category:People educated at Milford Haven School]] 
-[[Category:LGBT novelists]] 
-[[Category:People from Milford Haven]] 
- 
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Sarah Waters (born 21 July 1966) is a Welsh novelist. She is best known for her novels set in Victorian society and featuring lesbian protagonists, such as Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith.

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Novels


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