Introduction
Kit Wright (born 17 June 1944 in Crockham Hill, Kent) is the author of more than twenty-five books, for both adults and children, and the winner of awards including an Arts Council Writers' Award, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the Hawthornden Prize, the Alice Hunt Bartlett Prize and (jointly) the Heinemann Award. After a scholarship to Oxford University, he worked as a lecturer at Brock University, St Catherine's, in Canada, then returned to England and a position in the Poetry Society. He is currently a full-time writer.
Early life
Educated at Oxford University, Wright moved to Canada to work as a lecturer. In 1970 he returned to London to work as an Education Officer for the Poetry Society until 1975. From 1977 to 1979 he was Fellow Commoner in Creative Art at Cambridge University. He subsequently returned to London and works full-time as a writer. He currently contributes monthly to The Oldie magazine.
Awards
- 1977:Alice Hunt Bartlett Prize (awarded for The Bear Looked Over the Mountain)
- 1978:Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize (awarded for The Bear Looked Over the Mountain)
- 1985:Arts Council Writers' Award
- 1990:Heinemann Award (awarded for Short Afternoons)
- 1991:Hawthornden Prize (awarded for Short Afternoons)
- 1995:Cholmondeley Award
- 1999:King's Lynn Award for Merit in Poetry
- 2009:Honorary Fellowship at the English Association