List Of Writers

BARSTOW, STAN

Fiction writer and dramatist. Barstow, who was born in the West Riding of Yorkshire, comes from a coal mining background. He attended Ossett Grammar School, then began writing in the 1950s. Along with Alan Sillitoe, John Braine and Keth Waterhouse he is considered one of the pioneers of the 1960s school of northern literary realism. His first great success was the novel A Kind of Loving, which became a film directed by John Schlesinger and starring Alan Bates. Since then he has produced eleven novels and three books of short stories, many set in the fictional mining town of Cressley, as well as TV scripts and material for the radio and theatre. Stan moved from Yorkshire to south Wales in 2000 and in April 2008, the four-part television drama Calon Gaeth which Stan co-wrote with Diana Griffiths won a Welsh BAFTA for best drama. This was dramatised from the novel A Small Country by Sian James. Stan is a Fellow of Academi.

Reviews:

”…born storyteller, Barstow also underscores all his writing with a genuine love for the characters he has created…His writing refuses to fit into pigeon-holes, remaining what it has always been, tough and honest and true to itself…”
Trevor Royle

Selected Publications:
A Kind of Loving (Michael Joseph, 1960)
The Desperadoes, and Other Stories (Michael Joseph, 1961)
Ask Me Tomorrow (Michael Joseph, 1962)
Joby (Michael Joseph, 1964)
The Watchers on the Shore (Michael Joseph, 1966)
A Raging Calm (Michael Joseph, 1968)
Season with Eros (Michael Joseph, 1971)
Barsow Twenty Pieces of Silver (English Language Learning: Reading Scheme (Cambridge University Press,1975)
The Right True End (Michael Joseph, 1976)
Casual Aquaintance and Other Stories (Longman, 1976)
An Enemy of the People. Playscripts Series (editor with Henrik Ibsen) (Calder Publications, 1978)
A Brother’s Tale (Michael Joseph, 1980)
Glad Eye and Other Stories (Michael Joseph, 1984)
Just You Wait and See (Michael Joseph, 1986)
B. Movie (Michael Joseph, 1987)
Give Us This Day (Michael Joseph, 1989)
Next Of Kin (Michael Joseph, 1991)
In My Own Good Time (autobiography) (Smith Settle, 2001)
The Human Element (Blackie Schools, 2004)

Contributed to:
Through the Green Woods: An anthology of contemporary writing about youth and childhood (New Era Series) (editor) (E.J Arnold, 1968) 



A Kind of Loving (Michael Joseph, 1960)

Vic Brown is attracted to the beautiful but demanding Ingrid. As their relationship grows and changes he comes to terms - the hard way - with adult life and what it really means to love. Set in the 1960s, the novel raises issues against a clearly-evoked social and historical context.

To purchase this title from amazon.co.uk, please click on its front cover




A Raging Calm (Michael Joseph, 1968)

Tom Simpkins is a respected public figure in Cressley. He is also the long-time lover of a married woman. But when the husband of his mistress is killed in a car crash, he is forced to re-evaluate his life and relationships. Tom is aware of the possibilities that lie outside his own existence and wants to enjoy them but is also painfully aware of the inhibitions that have helped to shape his life and to give meaning to his sense of morality.

To purchase this title from amazon.co.uk, please click on its front cover



B. Movie (Michael Joseph, 1987)

B-movie is a short novel written in the manner of a 1950s crime thriller. Opening with the murder and robbery of a pawnbroker in a Northern town, it shifts focus to the two leading characters, young men on holiday in Blackpool. As the two friends form relationships with local girls and news filters through of the murder in their home town, the tension rises and events move to a shocking conclusion.

To purchase this title from amazon.co.uk, please click on its front cover