Philip Marsden Explained

Philip Marsden, also known as Philip Marsden-Smedley (born 11 May 1961),[1] is an English travel writer and novelist.

He is a grandson of Sir James Granville le Neve King of Campsie, 3rd Baronet (1898 –1989), a nephew of Sir John Christopher King of Campsie, 4th Baronet, and therefore a first cousin of the current Baronet, Sir James Rupert King of Campsie, 5th Baronet.

Born in Bristol, England, Marsden has a degree in anthropology[2] and worked for some years for The Spectator magazine.[3] He became a full-time writer in the late 1980s. He was elected as a Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature in 1996.[4]

A review of his work by Guy Mannes-Abbott appeared in The Independent newspaper in November 2007.[5]

He lives in Cornwall[6] with his wife, the writer Charlotte Hobson,[7] and their children.[5]

Awards and honours

Selected publications

Historical and travel writing

Novels

Spectator anthologies

External links

Notes and References

  1. Date of birth previously cited wrongly as 5 November, possibly a transatlantic misinterpretation of 5/11/61.
  2. Allston Mitchell, "Interview with Philip Marsden", The Global Dispatches...", 10 October 2012.
  3. https://www.spectator.co.uk/author/philip-marsden/ Philip Marsden page
  4. https://rsliterature.org/fellows/current-fellows/ "Current RSL Fellows"
  5. Guy Mannes-Abbott, "Philip Marsden: Journeying among people: Philip Marsden's books have shone a light into the hidden corners of Ethiopian history. Guy Mannes-Abbott is touched by his great affection for the nation", The Independent, 23 November 2007.
  6. https://www.thevalleycornwall.co.uk/blog/2015/11/21/cornish-authors-favourite-writing-spots/ "Cornish authors' favourite writing spots"
  7. Biographical summary in Ms Hobson's 2016 novel, The Vanishing Futurist.
  8. https://www.scaruffi.com/fiction/maugham.html "Winners of the Somerset Maugham Award".
  9. https://www.librarything.com/bookaward/Thomas+Cook+Travel+Book+Award "Book awards: Thomas Cook Travel Book Award"
  10. https://www.falmouth.ac.uk/honorary-fellows/philip-marsden "Philip Marsden FRSL – Honorary Fellow"
  11. eCampus blurb: "More than half a century after fleeing the Russians and Nazis, the poet Zofia Ilinska, nee Bronski, went back to the little village of her birth, which was then in Poland but now is part of Belarus. Accompanied by her friend, the travel writer and author Philip Marsden, she was looking for her home, though hoping to find much more -- a key to her childhood, and to her family. Marsden narrates the story of Zofia's return movingly but without sentimentality. And when she gives him her mother's diary, and letters, he begins to peel away the layers of Bronski history. From Zofia's journey we move back in time to the beautiful, courageous Helena, Zofia's mother, whose own family had had to uproot itself during the catastrophic events of 1914. From this chronicle of lost times and displaced souls emerges a passionate, magnificent epic of mother and daughter, a stirring elegy for the worlds that our century has left behind, and an unforgettable testament to love's power to reconstruct and forgive."
  12. [Aida Edemariam]
  13. Robert Collins, "The Barefoot Emperor by Philip Marsden" (review), The Observer, 24 August 2008.
  14. Aida Edemariam, "Birth of an empire: Aida Edemariam is moved by Philip Marsden's vivid exploration of the founding of Ethiopia, The Barefoot Emperor" (review), The Guardian, 12 January 2008.
  15. Jonathan Heawood, "When Cornwall was another country: Philip Marsden paints mostly in black and white in his first novel, The Main Cages" (review), The Observer, 28 July 2002.