Hame - Softcover

Sid Chaplin; Michael Chaplin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1911356054 ISBN 13: 9781911356059

Publisher: MayFly Press, 2016

Synopsis

Sid Chaplin was an acclaimed author of novels, essays and short stories, one of the finest writers working in the North in the 20th century and a great influence on a later generation of writers who followed his example, including John Braine, Melvyn Bragg and Alan Plater. The son of a miner who became a pitman himself, his early work brilliantly and tenderly chronicled the mining life he observed around him, in the villages in which he grew up by the River Wear in County Durham.

To mark the centenary of his birth in 1916, this new collection of stories, essays and poems features the very best of this work, capturing the culture which more or less created the modern North-East but which is now lost forever. In between these pieces his son Michael Chaplin traces his father's early life and the inspiring story of how in the face of many obstacles he became a successful writer. In a concluding essay he returns with the photographer Karen Atkinson to the three villages which meant so much to his father to discover their story since he left them and create an affectionate evocation of landscape, people and place.

About this title

About the Author:

Sid Chaplin was born in Shildon, County Durham in 1916 when the great northern coalfields was its height and he died in 1986 when it was on its last legs. Through a writing career lasting 45 years he wrote seven critically acclaimed novels, four books of short stories and two books of essays, many of which appeared also in paperback and were published abroad. His stories inspired the iconic stage musical Close The Coalhouse Door and as well as being a prolific journalist, broadcaster and co-founder of Northern Arts, he also wrote for television, including the BBC series When The Boat Comes In. He was married to Rene Chaplin, who contributed to his work as well as his life in countless ways, and had three children - Gillian, Chris and Michael.

About this edition

• Publisher: MayFly Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1911356054
• ISBN 13: 9781911356059
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320
• Illustrator: Karen Atkinson