Barry Unsworth

Born in Wingate, County Durham on the 10th August 1930 he was educated at Stockton on Tees Grammar School and Manchester University then spent a number of years in the Eastern Mediteranean region teaching English in Athens and Istanbul. He turned to writing with his first novel, 'The Partnership' being published in 1966 followed by 'The Greeks Have a Word For It' in 1967. Following his 13th novel - 'Losing Nelson' - he spent 15 months as Writer in Residence at Liverpool University . He bought the film rights to ' The Stone Virgin' but it was never made. He wrote the scripts for 'Sacred Hunger', a series for Channel 4 but it was canceled.