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Barry Unsworth Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

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Barry Unsworth
Photo: Aira Unsworth

Barry Unsworth

How to pronounce Barry Unsworth: UNS-worth

Barry Unsworth Biography

Barry Unsworth (b. 1930) won the Booker Prize for Sacred Hunger (1992); his next novel, Morality Play, was a Booker nominee and a bestseller in both the United States and Great Britain. His other novels include The Ruby in Her Navel, The Songs of the Kings, Losing Nelson, After Hannibal, The Hide, and Pascali's Island, which was also shortlisted for the Booker Prize and was made into a feature film.

He was born in Wingate, a mining village in Durham, England. After graduating from the University of Manchester in 1951, he lived in France for a year teaching English. In the 1960s he traveled extensively in Greece and Turkey, lecturing at the University of Athens and the University of Istanbul. In 1999 he was a visiting professor at the University of Iowa's Writers' Workshop. In 2004 he taught literature and creative writing classes at Kenyon College in Ohio. He died on June 5, 2012 at the age of 81 from lung cancer.


Bibliography

Selected Novels
The Partnership (1966)
The Hide (1970)
Mooncranker's Gift (1973)
The Big Day (1976)
Pascali's Island (1980)
The Idol Hunter (1980)
The Rage of the Vulture (1982)
Stone Virgin (1985)
Sugar and Rum (1988)
Sacred Hunger (1991)
The Greeks Have a Word for It (1993)
Morality Play (1995)
After Hannibal (1996)
Losing Nelson (1999)
The Songs of the Kings (2002)
The Ruby in Her Navel (2006)
Land of Marvels (2009)
The Quality of Mercy (2011)


Anthology (editor)

Classic Sea Stories (1994)


Nonfiction
Novels and Novelists in the 1990's (1993)
Nelson Biography (1999)
Crete (2004)



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Books by this Author

Books by Barry Unsworth at BookBrowse
The Quality of Mercy jacket Land of Marvels jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Barry Unsworth but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Moudhy Al-Rashid

    Moudhy Al-Rashid

    Moudhy Al-Rashid is an honorary fellow at the University of Oxford's Wolfson College, where she specializes in the languages and history of ancient Mesopotamia. Originally from Saudi Arabia, where she grew up, she now lives ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Land of Marvels

    Try:
    Between Two Rivers
    by Moudhy Al-Rashid

  • Caroline Alexander

    Caroline Alexander

    Caroline Alexander was born in Florida to British parents and has lived in Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean. She studied philosophy and theology at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and has a doctorate in classics from Columbia ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The Quality of Mercy

    Try:
    The Bounty
    by Caroline Alexander

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