Ros Barber Explained

Ros Barber
Honorific Prefix:	Dr
Birth Date:	1964
Occupation:	Novelist, poet, academic
Nationality:	British
Notablework:	The Marlowe Papers
Awards:	Desmond Elliott Prize, Authors' Club Best First Novel Award, Hoffman Prize

Rosalind Barber^[1] (born 1964) is an English novelist, poet and academic.^[2]

Education

She has a BSc in Biology, an MA in creative writing, the arts and education, and a PhD in English literature, all from the University of Sussex. She also has an Open University BA in English literature and philosophy.^[3]

Barber has worked as a computer programmer.^[4]

Novels

Barber's first novel, The Marlowe Papers (2012), is written in blank verse. She subscribes to the Marlovian theory of Shakespeare authorship.^{[5] [6]} In the book, Marlowe's death is a ruse and he writes plays in Shakespeare's name. The book won the Desmond Elliott Prize^[7] and the Authors' Club First Novel Award.^[8] Her second novel, Devotion (2015),^[9] was shortlisted for the Encore Award.^[10]

Barber made an appearance at the Brighton Fringe in 2012.^{[11] [12]} She and Nicola Haydn wrote a one-man stage adaptation of The Marlowe Papers performed in 2016.^{[13] [14]}

Poetry

Of Barber's three volumes of poetry, Material (2008) was a Poetry Book Society recommendation.^[10] Its title poem, which also appears in the Faber anthology Poems of the Decade (2015), was in England's school sixth-form syllabus as of 2017.^[15]

Academic position

As of 2021, Barber lectures in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London.^[16]

Awards

She won the Hoffman Prize in 2011, 2014 and 2018.^{[17] [18] [1]}

!Year!Work!Award!Result!Ref

2011	The Marlowe Papers	Hoffman Prize
2013		Authors' Club First Novel Award
		Desmond Elliott Prize
		Women's Prize for Fiction		^[19]
2014	"Shortly he will forget to go"	Hoffman Prize
2015	Devotion	Encore Award
2018	"Big Data, Little Certainty"	Hoffman Prize

Bibliography

Novels

• The Marlowe Papers (2012)
• Devotion (2015)

Poetry

• How Things Are on Thursday (2004)
• Not the Usual Grasses Singing (2005)
• Material (2008)

Non-fiction

• 30 Second Shakespeare (2015)

External links

• Staff page at Goldsmiths, University of London
• Ros Barber at Royal Literary Fund
• Material Poem Analysis and Commentary
• The Bard didn’t use Warwickshire dialect – so was he really Shakespeare?, article by Barber at The Conversation

Notes and References

1. Web site: The Calvin & Rose G Hoffman Prize winners . . 6 January 2020 . en . 13 December 2018.
2. http://www.forwardartsfoundation.org/poet/ros-barber/ Forward Arts. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
3. https://www.gold.ac.uk/ecl/staff/barber-ros/ Goldsmiths College site. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
4. News: Masters . Tim . Author faced 'hostility' over book . 2 January 2020 . BBC . 28 June 2013.
5. Book: Winkler, Elizabeth . May 2023 . Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies . Simon & Schuster . 296 . 9781982171261.
6. News: Nicholl . Charles . Charles Nicholl (author) . Exiting the Stage . 30 October 2019 . The New York Times . 25 January 2013 . Dr. Barber is a "Marlovian" not only in the generic and beneficial sense of being an admirer of Marlowe, but in the more specific and, some will say, more tiresome sense of being a believer in the theory that Marlowe wrote the plays of Shakespeare..
7. News: The Marlowe Papers wins Desmond Elliott Prize . Masters . Tim . 2013-06-27 . BBC News . 2017-03-11 . en-GB.
8. Web site: Ros Barber – The Poetry Society . poetrysociety.org.uk . en-GB . 2017-03-11.
9. News: Feay . Suzi . Devotion by Ros Barber review – the conflict between religion and science . 6 January 2020 . The Guardian . 19 August 2015.
10. Book: McLoughlin . Nigel . The Portable Poetry Workshop . 2016 . . 978-1-137-60596-2 . viii . 6 January 2020 . en.
11. http://rosbarber.com/wordjam-at-brighton-fringe/ Author's page. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
12. https://www.rlf.org.uk/fellowships/ros-barber/ Royal Literary Fund. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
13. News: Hall . Duncan . The Marlowe Papers, Otherplace At The Basement, Kensington Street, Brighton, until Saturday, January 29, call 01273 987516 . 30 September 2021 . . 29 January 2016 . en.
14. Web site: Barber . Ros . Further Developments with The Marlowe Papers . Ros Barber . 30 September 2021 . 12 February 2016.
15. Web site: Amendment to GCE AS and A level English Literature, Prescribed texts – Poems of the Decade . 2017-01-04 . pearson.com . Pearson . 2017-11-13.
16. https://www.gold.ac.uk/ecl/staff/barber-ros/ Goldsmiths page. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
17. Web site: THE MARLOWE PAPERS by Ros Barber Kirkus Reviews . . 6 January 2020 . en.
18. Web site: Hoffman Prize Winners . The Marlowe Society . 6 January 2020.
19. Web site: Women's Prize for Fiction 2013 longlist announced News RGfE . 2024-06-26 . readinggroups.org.