Robert McCrum explained

Birth Name:	John Robert McCrum
Birth Date:	7 July 1953
Birth Place:	Cambridge, England
Parents:	Michael William McCrum and Christine McCrum^[1]
Education:	Sherborne School
Alma Mater:	Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University of Pennsylvania
Occupation:	Writer, editor

John Robert McCrum (born 7 July 1953) is an English writer and editor who held senior editorial positions at Faber & Faber over seventeen years, followed by a long association with The Observer.

Early life and education

The son of Michael William McCrum, a Cambridge-educated ancient historian, Robert McCrum was born in Cambridge on 7 July 1953.^[2] He was educated at Sherborne School, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (MA (Cantab)), and the University of Pennsylvania as a Thouron Scholar.^[3]

Career

McCrum was editorial director at Faber & Faber from 1979 to 1989^[4] and editor-in-chief there from 1990 to 1996.^[5] He served as literary editor of The Observer for more than ten years. In May 2008 he was appointed associate editor of The Observer.^[6]

McCrum is the co-author of The Story of English with William Cran and Robert MacNeil and wrote P. G. Wodehouse: A Life. McCrum's novel Suspicion was published in 1997.^[7]

McCrum received an honorary doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 2011.^[8]

In August 2017, McCrum's Every Third Thought: On life, death and the endgame was published,^[9] taking its title from Shakespeare's play The Tempest.^[10] The book was adapted and broadcast as BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week the following month.^[11]

Personal life

In July 1995, McCrum suffered a massive stroke.^[12] The devastating experience and his recovery is chronicled in My Year Off: Recovering Life After a Stroke. He had been married to Sarah Lyall, an American journalist, for only two months, and the book includes diary entries made by his wife. He also became a patron of the UK charity Different Strokes, which provides information and support for younger stroke survivors.

Lyall, who writes for The New York Times, lived in London from 1995 to 2013 and was the newspaper's London correspondent. She returned to New York with the couple's daughters in 2013; Lyall and McCrum later divorced.^[13]

McCrum describes himself as "a confused non-believer".^[14]

Bibliography

Fiction

• In the Secret State. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1980.
• A Loss of Heart. 1982
• The Fabulous Englishman UK: Hamish Hamilton Ltd, 1984.
• Mainland. New York: Knopf, 1991.
• The Psychological Moment. London: Martin Secker & Warburg, 1993.
• Jubilee. New York: Knopf, 1994.
• Suspicion. New York: Norton, 1997.

Non-fiction

• The Story of English. New York: Elisabeth Sifton, 1986. (With William Cran and Robert MacNeil)
• My Year Off: Recovering Life After a Stroke. New York: Norton, 1998.
• P. G. Wodehouse: A Life. New York: Norton, 2004.
• Globish: How the English Language Became the World's Language. New York: Norton, 2010.
• The 100 Best Novels in English. London: Galileo, 2015.
• Every Third Thought: On Life, Death and the Endgame. London: Picador, 2017.
• The 100 Best Non Fiction Books of All Time. London: Galileo, 2018.
• Shakespearean. New York London: Pegasus Books, 2021.

External links

• Official website

Notes and References

1. News: WEDDINGS; Sarah L. Lyall, Robert McCrum . . 14 May 1995.
2. Web site: McCrum, Robert 1953– . encyclopedia.com . 8 October 2023.
3. Web site: Writers in the Family . The Thouron Awards . 9 . 2013–2014 . 22 . 8 October 2023.
4. Book: Foster . Sara . Gullen . Zoe . Debrett's People of Today . 2001 . Debrett's . London . 9781870520164 . 2002.
5. News: Have blogs been good for books? . McCrum . Robert . 25 May 2008 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20080908002217/http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/05/have_blogs_been_good_for_books.html . 8 September 2008 . 25 May 2008.
6. News: A thriller in ten chapters . McCrum . Robert . 25 May 2008 . . 25 May 2008.
7. Web site: Rodgers . Linda . Suspicion – Review . NY Times Books . 6 April 1997.
8. Web site: Honorary Graduates . Heriot-Watt University . 27 September 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151117025729/http://www1.hw.ac.uk/graduation/docs/HWU_Honorary_Graduates_FINAL.pdf . 17 November 2015 . 19 . en.
9. Book: McCrum, Robert . Every Third Thought: On life, death and the endgame . 24 August 2017 . . 978-1509815289 . hardback.
10. News: Morrison . Blake . Blake Morrison . Every Third Thought by Robert McCrum review – how to think about death . 6 July 2014 . . London . 4 September 2017.
11. Book of the Week: Every Third Thought Episode 1 of 5 . . Reader: Nicky Henson; Author: Robert McCrum; Abridger: Barry Johnston; Producer: David Roper . BBC . BBC Radio 4 . 4 September 2017 . 4 September 2017.
12. News: 'Words are the best weapons with which to come to terms with ageing' . Robert . McCrum . The Observer . 13 August 2017.
13. News: 'Sometimes I felt loud and gauche, like a guest who shows up at a memorial service wearing a Hawaiian shirt': the thoughts of a New York Times correspondent on leaving London . . 23 August 2013 . 27 September 2022.
14. Web site: When thoughts often turn to death . . 19 August 2017 . 27 September 2022.