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Lawrence Norfolk

Lawrence Norfolk

Lawrence Norfolk was born in London in 1963. He read English at King’s College, London, graduating in 1986. He began teaching then became a freelance writer, contributing articles to magazines and journals including the Times Literary Supplement.

His first historical fiction, Lempriere’s Dictionary (1991), was praised by Malcolm Bradbury as “one of the finest novels of the Nineties” [The Modern British Novel 1878-2001]. It was followed by The Pope’s Rhinoceros (1996) and In the Shape of a Boar (2000). These three books have been translated into 24 languages.

He is a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award and the Budapest Festival Prize for Literature. His books have been shortlisted for the IMPAC Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Award and the Wingate/ Jewish Quarterly Prize for Literature. His latest novel is John Saturnall’s Feast (2012).

He lives in London with his wife and two sons.

Praise

“Lawrence Norfolk is a genius.” —Louis de Bernières

“Norfolk . . . he’ll be remembered. He invented a new form in some ways. He has a good ear for the language and an original vision of the nature of things. He is also very playful [and] totally accessible. Not hidden away in some academic corner; he is right in the middle of the British literary tradition.” —AS Byatt

“One of the finest novels of the nineties . . . Lempriere’s Dictionary is a novel quite comparable in scale, intelligence and literary playfulness to the work of Thomas Pynchon or Umberto Eco.” —Malcolm Bradbury, The Modern British Novel 1878-2001

“The biggest book—in every sense—to be published in English since the Second World War . . . I was thrilled and engaged by its brilliance.” —Tibor Fischer on The Pope’s Rhinoceros

“Ambitious . . . impressive . . . dazzling. . . . Norfolk can palm an entire era in a single devastating image.” —San Francisco Chronicle on In The Shape of a Boar

“Lawrence Norfolk is just about ahead of everyone in his generation of English novelists.” —The Observer (London)

“Norfolk’s ferocious, greedy originality of angle and expression evokes continuous astonishment.” —The Times Literary Supplement on Lempriere’s Dictionary