Sam North

Awards: Somerset Maugham Award 1990, Man Booker longlist 2004, Eric Gregory Award 2010, finalist Arvon International Poetry Award 2010.

Potted bio:

1960-72: Brought up with sister Mary-lou and mother Annabelle (a shepherdess and groom) in The Stable Flat, Oare House, Exmoor. A one-eyed pony called Nipper – the river bank, fishing.

1972-76: Batworthy farm, Dartmoor – part Arab called Jester and then a bold horse called Rudolph – motorbikes – living in a caravan – met and went out with Abigail Pilbrow - failed English A level.

1977-1979: To London courtesy of Gail Greengross and family - working in a bodywork repair garage in Notting Hill, as a van driver, as a waiter, travel to South America, Italy, Switzerland, France - living in Chapel Street.

1979-82 Middlesex Polytechnic - drama and English - converted a British Rail lorry to live in - a squat in Muswell Hill.

1982-87: Brixton - Hackney – motorcycle messenger – builder and decorator – fight sequences for music videos – runner for films and pop videos.

1987-88: PQE in film practice from Bournemouth – Mike Leigh writing my reference – writing a short film.

1989-90: Living in borrowed house on the River Avon – writing ‘The Automatic Man’

1990-97: Taken on by the Jane Turnbull Literary Agency – published by Dan Franklin at Secker and Warburg - winning the Somerset Maugham Award – writing proposals for corporate videos and for documentary programmes made by C4, BBC and ITV - head of drama development for World Wide Pictures – writing film for Robert Frank in New York - living with Abigail Pilbrow in Camden and then Muswell Hill – Mylo, Diggory and Louie born – writing ‘Chapel Street’, ‘The Gifting Programme’ and ‘By Desire’.

1997-2000: Director of the literary agency AP Watt, running their film department, selling rights to books and to original scripts to UK and US producers.

2000-2007: moved to Dartmoor to write full time - writing The Lie Of The Land, The Velvet Rooms, The Unnumbered (long-listed for the Man Booker), The Old Country, and various film projects.

2007-2024: from Lecturer to Associate Professor in creative writing at The University of Exeter - PhD titled ‘Five Analogies’ published by Gylphi Press - 'The Instinctive Screenplay' published by MacMillan. 2010 Eric Gregory Award from The Society of Authors. 2017 spec film script, 'The Tower', optioned to Kevin Loader ('Death of Stalin' etc), unproduced.

2025: Visiting Professor at Shiv Nadar University, Delhi.