Sarah Waters 1146295 214410807 2008-05-23T12:55:13Z LarRan 4795501 Avoiding redirect. {{Infobox Writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox Writer/doc]] --> | name = Sarah Waters | image = Sarah Waters.jpg | imagesize = 250px | caption = Waters at a book signing for ''The Night Watch'' | pseudonym = | birthdate = [[1966]] | birthplace = [[Neyland]], [[Pembrokeshire]], [[Wales]] | deathdate = | deathplace = | occupation = novelist | nationality = [[United Kingdom|British]] | period = 1998-present | genre = historical fiction | subject = | movement = | influences = [[Charles Dickens]], [[Wilkie Collins]], [[Mary Shelley]], the [[Brontës]], [[John Fowles]], [[A. S. Byatt]], [[Angela Carter]]<ref name="litnet"/> | influenced = | signature = | website = http://www.sarahwaters.com }} '''Sarah Waters''' is a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[novelist]]. She is best known for her novels set in [[Victorian era|Victorian society]], such as ''[[Tipping the Velvet]]'' and ''[[Fingersmith (novel)|Fingersmith]]''. ==Personal life== ===Childhood=== Sarah Waters was born in [[Neyland]], [[Pembrokeshire]], [[Wales]] in 1966. She grew up in a family that included her father, mother, and 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 | coauthors = | title =Uncharted Waters | work = | pages = | language = | publisher =The Guardian | date =June 1, 2006 | url =http://books.guardian.co.uk/hay2006/story/0,,1787355,00.html | accessdate = 2007-02-24 }}</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 | coauthors = | title =Sarah Waters on writing: 'If I waited for inspiration to strike, it would never happen!' (Interview) | work = | pages = | language = | publisher =LitNet | date =2006 | url =http://www.litnet.co.za/cgi-bin/giga.cgi?cmd=cause_dir_news_item&news_id=3630&cause_id=1270 | accessdate = 2007-02-24 }}</ref> Waters said, "When I picture myself as a child, I see myself constructing something, out of plasticine or papier maché 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"/> {{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 was always bright at school, and 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"/>|}} Waters was a "completely tomboyish child", but "got into" femininity in her teenage years. She had always been attracted to boys, and it was not until university that she first fell in love with a woman.<ref name="Guardian"/> ===Education=== 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 the [[University of London]]'s [[Queen Mary, University of London|Queen Mary and Westfield College]], as it was known in her time. The work for her PhD dissertation, ('Wolfskins and togas : lesbian and gay historical fictions, 1870 to the present'),<ref>[http://catalogue.library.qmul.ac.uk/uhtbin/cgisirsi/1fF9LuFTOe/MAINLIB/246850125/88 QMUL Library catalogue<!-- Bot generated title -->]</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"/> ===Daily life=== Waters lives in a top-floor Victorian flat in Kennington, south-east London.<ref name="bio">{{cite web | last =Waters | first =Sarah | authorlink = | coauthors = | title =Biography | work = | publisher =sarahwaters.com | date = | url =http://www.sarahwaters.com/biog.htm | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2007-02-24}}</ref><ref name="Guardian"/> The rooms, which have slanted ceilings, used to be servant quarters.<ref name="libertas"/> Waters lives with her two cats.<ref name="libertas">{{cite news | last =Taylor | first =Debbie | coauthors = | title =THE Mslexia INTERVIEW - Sarah Waters talks to Debbie Taylor | work = | pages = | language = | publisher =libertas.co.uk | date = | url =http://www.libertas.co.uk/interviews.asp?ID=8 | accessdate = 2007-02-24 }}</ref> ==Career== Before writing novels, Waters worked as an academic, earning a doctorate and teaching.<ref name="virago">{{cite news | last = Page | first =Benedicte | coauthors = | title =Her Thieving Hands | work = | pages = | language = | publisher =Virago | date = | url =http://www.virago.co.uk/virago/meet/waters_interview.asp?TAG=&CID=virago | accessdate = }}</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 | coauthors = | title =Interview with Sarah Waters | work = | pages = | language = | publisher =AfterEllen.com | date =April 6, 2006 | url =http://www.afterellen.com/Print/2006/4/waters.html | accessdate = }}</ref> All of her books contain lesbian themes, and she does not mind being labeled 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." She calls it "incidental," because of 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="booksense">{{cite news | last =Hogan | first =Ron | coauthors = | title =Sarah Waters (Interview) | work = | pages = | language = | publisher =BookSense.com | date = | url =http://www.booksense.com/people/archive/waterssarah.jsp | accessdate = 2007-02-24}}</ref> The book takes its title from Victorian slang for [[cunnilingus]].<ref name="bio"/> Waters describes the novel as "very upbeat [...] kind of a romp."<ref name="booksense"/> It won a 1999 Betty Trask Award, and was shortlisted for the Mail on Sunday / John Llewelyn 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 language|Chinese]], [[Latvian language|Latvian]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Korean language|Korean]] and [[Slovenian language|Slovenian]].<ref name="Time Out">{{cite news | last = | first = | coauthors = | title =Sarah Waters: Interview | work = | pages = | language = | publisher =Time Out London | date = | url =http://www.timeout.com/london/books/features/144.html | accessdate = 2007-02-24 }}</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="booksense"/> "It was a very gloomy world to have to go into every day," she said.<ref name="powells">{{cite news | last = | first = | coauthors = | title =Sarah Waters: From Victoria to VE Day (Interview) | work = | pages = | language = | publisher =Powells.com | date = | url =http://www.powells.com/authors/sarahwaters.html | accessdate = 2007-02-24}}</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]] will premiere [[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 "especially 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 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 the way it was written. 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 immortalized 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 | last = | first = | coauthors = | title =Book role auction nudges £20,000 | work = | pages = | language =English | publisher =BBC News | date =31 March, 2004 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3586013.stm | accessdate = 2007-02-24}}</ref> ==Bibliography== * ''Tipping the Velvet'', 1998 * ''Affinity'', 1999 * ''Fingersmith'', 2002 * ''[[The Night Watch (Waters novel)|The Night Watch]]'', 2006 ==Adaptations== * ''[[Tipping the Velvet (TV serial)|Tipping the Velvet]]'' (2002), BBC Two * ''[[Fingersmith (TV serial)|Fingersmith]]'' (2005), BBC One * ''[[Affinity]] Sarah Waters appeared briefly in both ''Tipping the Velvet'', as an audience member, and ''Fingersmith'', as a maid.<ref name="gb">{{cite news | last = | first = | coauthors = | title = Interview with Sarah Waters | work = | pages = | language = | publisher =Gingerbeer | date = | url =http://www.gingerbeer.co.uk/article.php?CategoryID=&ArticleID=46 | accessdate = }}</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"/> 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 for Lesbian and Gay Fiction, 2000 * Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, 2000 ===''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 Night Watch''=== * Man Booker Prize for Fiction (shortlist), 2006 * Orange Prize for Fiction (shortlist), 2006 * Lambda Literary Award, 2007 == References == {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://www.sarahwaters.com Official website] *[http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth03A23O034012634831 British Council Biography and Bibliography] *[http://www.virago.co.uk/virago/meet/waters_interview.asp?TAG=&CID=virago Virago Profile] <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] --> {{Persondata |NAME= Waters, Sarah |ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Novelist |SHORT DESCRIPTION= novelist |DATE OF BIRTH= [[1966]] |PLACE OF BIRTH= [[Neyland]], [[Pembrokeshire]], [[Wales]] |DATE OF DEATH= |PLACE OF DEATH= }} {{DEFAULTSORT:Waters, Sarah}} [[Category:1966 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:British novelists]] [[Category:Lambda Literary Award winners]] [[Category:Lesbian writers]] [[Category:British Book Awards]] [[Category:Alumni of the University of Kent]] [[Category:Alumni of Lancaster University]] [[Category:Alumni of Queen Mary, University of London]] [[Category:Women novelists]] [[Category:People from Pembrokeshire]] [[Category:LGBT people from the United Kingdom|Writers]] [[de:Sarah Waters]] [[fi:Sarah Waters]] [[fr:Sarah Waters]] [[nl:Sarah Waters]] [[ja:サラ・ウォーターズ]] [[no:Sarah Waters]] [[pl:Sarah Waters]] [[ru:Уотерс, Сара]] [[sv:Sarah Waters]]