Peter Ackroyd (1)

This page covers the author of London: The Biography.

For other authors named Peter Ackroyd, see the disambiguation page.

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Peter Ackroyd was born in London in 1949. He graduated from Cambridge University and was a Fellow at Yale (1971-1973). A critically acclaimed and versatile writer, Ackroyd began his career while at Yale, publishing two volumes of poetry. He continued writing poetry until he began delving into historical fiction with The Great Fire of London (1982). A constant theme in Ackroyd's work is the blending of past, present, and future, often paralleling the two in his biographies and novels. Much of Ackroyd's work explores the lives of celebrated authors such as Dickens, Milton, Eliot, Blake, and More. Ackroyd's approach is unusual, injecting imagined material into traditional biographies. In The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde (1983), his work takes on an autobiographical form in his account of Wilde's final years. He was widely praised for his believable imitation of Wilde's style. He was awarded the British Whitbread Award for biography in 1984 of T.S. Eliot, and the Whitbread Award for fiction in 1985 for his novel Hawksmoor. Ackroyd currently lives in London and publishes one or two books a year. He still considers poetry to be his first love, seeing his novels as an extension of earlier poetic work. (Bowker Author Biography) Peter Ackroyd is the award-winning author of four biographies, most recently the national bestseller "The Life of Thomas More", as well as ten novels, including "Chatterton" & "Hawksmoor". He lives in London, where he is at work on his next book, "London: The Biography. (Publisher Provided) Peter Ackroyd is a bestselling writer of both fiction and nonfiction. He lives in London. (Publisher Provided) — biography from London: The Biography… (more)

Series

The History of England

Peter Ackroyd's Brief Lives

Voyages Through Time

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Works by Peter Ackroyd

London: The Biography 3,164 copies, 47 reviews

Hawksmoor 1,822 copies, 38 reviews

Shakespeare: The Biography 1,229 copies, 18 reviews

Foundation: The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the… 1,207 copies, 27 reviews

The Life of Thomas More 1,160 copies, 15 reviews

Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination 1,117 copies, 11 reviews

London Under 915 copies, 48 reviews

Blake 895 copies, 12 reviews

Chatterton 864 copies, 16 reviews

Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem 857 copies, 23 reviews

The Lambs of London 848 copies, 36 reviews

Thames: Sacred River 841 copies, 15 reviews

The Clerkenwell Tales 815 copies, 23 reviews

The House of Doctor Dee 809 copies, 19 reviews

Tudors: The History of England from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I 808 copies, 16 reviews

Dickens 746 copies, 10 reviews

Rebellion: The History of England from James I to the Glorious Revolution 655 copies, 14 reviews

Venice: Pure City 595 copies, 12 reviews

The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein 542 copies, 41 reviews

The Canterbury Tales: A Retelling 508 copies, 10 reviews

The Plato Papers 487 copies, 13 reviews

English Music 452 copies, 4 reviews

T.S. Eliot: A Life 450 copies, 5 reviews

First Light 446 copies, 8 reviews

The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde 413 copies, 5 reviews

The Fall of Troy 393 copies, 14 reviews

Milton in America 360 copies, 6 reviews

The Death of King Arthur: The Immortal Legend (Author) 349 copies, 13 reviews

Poe: A Life Cut Short 346 copies, 11 reviews

Revolution: The History of England from the Battle of the Boyne to the… 314 copies, 6 reviews

Chaucer 304 copies, 8 reviews

Dickens (abridged) 258 copies, 2 reviews

Queer City: Gay London from the Romans to the Present Day 257 copies, 9 reviews

Dickens: Public Life and Private Passion 255 copies, 3 reviews

Dominion 227 copies, 3 reviews

The Great Fire of London 194 copies, 2 reviews

The Collection 167 copies, 2 reviews

Newton 164 copies, 9 reviews

J.M.W. Turner 154 copies, 3 reviews

Alfred Hitchcock: A Brief Life 151 copies, 8 reviews

The English Ghost 135 copies, 7 reviews

Three Brothers 134 copies, 9 reviews

Charlie Chaplin: A Brief Life 130 copies

Wilkie Collins 128 copies, 9 reviews

Innovation: The History of England Volume VI (The History of England, 6) 101 copies

Illustrated London 84 copies, 2 reviews

Mr Cadmus 71 copies, 4 reviews

Ezra Pound 64 copies

The Beginning 63 copies

Dressing Up: Transvestism and Drag: The History of an Obsession 62 copies, 3 reviews

Dickens' London: An Imaginative Vision 58 copies, 1 review

Escape from Earth 55 copies

Cities of Blood 53 copies

Introduction to Dickens 44 copies, 1 review

The Diversions of Purley 38 copies, 1 review

Kingdom of the Dead 35 copies, 1 review

A Traveller's Companion to London 31 copies, 1 review

Ancient Rome 31 copies

London: The Concise Biography 30 copies

Colors of London: A History 25 copies, 2 reviews

Ezra Pound and his world 24 copies

Ancient Greece 23 copies

The Mystery of Charles Dickens 13 copies

Notes for a New Culture: Essay on Modernism 10 copies

The English Actor: From Medieval to Modern 7 copies

Blitz 7 copies

London Lickpenny 6 copies

Country Life 5 copies

P.E.N. new fiction I 3 copies, 1 review

William Shakespeare Without the Boring Bits 2 copies

Evil London: The Dark Side of a Great City 2 copies

Dickens [2002 miniseries] 2 copies

The Canterbury Tales 1 copy

Jack the Ripper and the East End 1 copy

Peter Ackroyd 5 Books Collection Set History of England Series Vol 1-5… 1 copy

Geoffrey Chaucer’ın Canterbury Hikayeleri 1 copy

Dickens - (1) Secrets; (2) Blazing Away [DVD] 1 copy

Dickens - (3) Terror to the End [DVD] 1 copy

Victor Frankenstein'in Vaka Defteri 1 copy

Civil War: A History of England Volume III (History of England Vol 3) 1 copy

Charles Dickens (2003): Uncovering the Real Dickens (2002)/ David… 1 copy

Dickens (dvd) 1 copy

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Also by Peter Ackroyd

The Picture of Dorian Gray (Introduction, some editions) 38,033 copies, 614 reviews

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Introduction, some editions) 30,678 copies, 168 reviews

Paradise Lost (Preface, some editions) 13,315 copies, 109 reviews

The Sign of Four (Introduction, some editions) 4,864 copies, 166 reviews

1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (Introduction) 2,521 copies, 79 reviews

Boswell's London Journal 1762-1763 (Foreword, some editions) 1,440 copies, 16 reviews

The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics) (Foreword, some editions) 1,268 copies, 7 reviews

The Haunted House (Foreword, some editions) 363 copies, 15 reviews

A Rogue's Life (Foreword, some editions) 232 copies, 7 reviews

Memoirs of the Extraordinary Life, Works, and Discoveries of Martinus… (Foreword, some editions) 190 copies, 5 reviews

First Folio: A Little Book of Folio Forewords (Contributor) 174 copies, 1 review

London: A Pilgrimage (Introduction, some editions) 143 copies

The Worst Street in London (Foreword, some editions) 106 copies, 1 review

A Brief Guide to William Shakespeare (Introduction & Commentaries) 78 copies

Table Talk (Foreword, some editions) 56 copies, 1 review

Coffee with Dickens (Coffee with...Series) (Foreword) 46 copies

The East End: Four Centuries of London Life (Introduction, some editions) 42 copies, 1 review

Method and theory : proceedings of the London 1985 Achaemenid history… (Contributor) 2 copies

Thomas Chatterton and romantic culture (Foreword) 2 copies

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history

Common Knowledge

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Canonical name

Legal name

Ackroyd, Peter Warwick

Other names

Date of birth

1949-10-05

Date of death

Burial location

Gender

male

Nationality

Country (for map)

Birthplace

East Acton, Middlesex, England, UK

Place of death

Cause of death

Places of residence

London, England, UK

Education

University of Cambridge (Clare College)

Yale University

St. Benedict's School, Ealing

Occupations

Relationships

Kuhn, Brian (partner)

Agents

Sheil Land Associates Ltd

Organizations

The Spectator

The Times

Awards and honors

Mellon Fellow

British Book Award (1991)

Commander, Order of the British Empire (2003)

Fellow, Royal Society of Literature (1984)

James Tait Black Memorial Prize (1998)

(show all 7 items)

Short biography

Peter Ackroyd is an award-winning novelist, broadcaster, biographer, poet and historian. He is the author of London Under and the bestselling London: The Biography and Thames: Sacred River. He has won a number of accolades including the Whitbread Biography Award, the Royal Society of Literature’s William Heinemann Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Guardian Fiction Prize and the Somerset Maugham Award. He holds a CBE for services to literature (The Browser).