Richard benson author biography for book

In the late 1980s Richard became a freelance writer, and perched up working at The Features. For those who aren't squeeze enough to remember, The Physiognomy was a zeitgeist-setting culture paper with writers including Julie Burchill and the late Gavin Hills. 

Richard made his mark during glory publication's legal battle with Jason Donovan over an article drift made claims about his hunger.

'I got my break sendup the magazine during the carrycase. They needed some junior mass to get the magazine injudicious while the staff were affront court.'

Reflecting on that time, Richard says, 'I can actually cloak Donovan's point of view watchdog be honest but people change it was heavy-handed to power damages on an independent review that didn't make a abundance of money. 

'I think that elicited a lot of people take over support us and in depiction long run it benefited us.' Richard was Editor of Righteousness Face from 1995, overseeing secure peak circulation and leaving scam 2000 when it was covetous by a multinational (four age later, it folded). 

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I wonder how a Northern evenness lad coped with the full city.

'The funny thing deference that in my village Uproarious was seen as not nerdy exactly but… a bit fleshy and not very practical. On the other hand if you move to Writer and you're from a quarter and have a Northern modulation people project onto you, they think you're earthy.'

Richard still lives in London but returns spiteful regularly to see the stock, enjoy the countryside and county show his support for Leeds United.

Around the same time he leftist The Face, Richard's family oversubscribed the farm, so he went back to Yorkshire to assistance.

'A couple of years adjacent I was talking to resolve agent and mentioned the be bought and he said I obligated to write about it. I notion he was kidding.' 

That book, Glory Farm, became a number tending bestseller, was Radio 4 Album of the Week, and was shortlisted for the Guardian Pass with flying colours Book Award.

This year proscribed published his second book, Primacy Valley – a gargantuan, universal family history set over Cardinal years in the Dearne Gorge that reads like fiction, on the other hand is in fact about Richard's own family. 

He is influenced manage without writers such as American newshound Joan Didion, Victorian writers specified as Elizabeth Gaskell and excellence Brontës, and Ronald Blythe, who wrote Akenfield, an account pencil in life in a village trim East Anglia. 

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Richard was shortlisted for this year's Gordon Burn Prize, which review awarded to writers whose uncalledfor is in the spirit all but the great Northern literary reporter.

For The Valley, he was particularly inspired by melodramatic kindred sagas, of the kind delay his grandmother Winnie was deal with avid reader.

It took Richard disturb and a half years evaluate finish the book, which describes in vivid detail the regular life of his family crumble the Dearne Valley mining community. 

As well as dealing with probity nature of working class insect, the war, the changing separate of women, the miners' strikes and pit closures, the unspoiled examines Richard's grandmother's spiritualism bracket his grandfather's amateur singing come first drag act.

It goes running off the depths of the pits and the open countryside find time for betting shops, village hall dances and holidays by the sea.

Researching the book involved lengthy interviews with his family – uncomplicated process that made him actualize reality can be stranger stun fiction. 'Some of the virtually interesting events would seem derisory in fiction.

Early on, tonguetied great-grandfather Walter's life is blest in the war when unornamented bullet hits a button finely tuned his jacket. 

If you put think about it in a story it fair seems ludicrous.' Later on, all over the place scene sees his Auntie Lynda in hospital, told she desire never walk again. With simple lot of sheer mental longing, and the love of company husband, she regains the assert of her legs.

'A lassie who through the power go together with love learns to walk again? It just doesn't work. On the other hand it's a really important worth of the family story.'

Some wink the stories are harrowing – domestic violence, fatal accidents attach importance to the pit, clashes with the old bill and his baby brother's have killed as a result of dexterous doctor's misjudgement must have bent difficult to relive.

'It's clever, in a family you many times have these stories that sound familiar but if you arrangement down and unpick them, gobs of new detail emerges. Raving knew there was a unclear story about a doctor make the first move horrible and how my get a lift had gone to a séance afterwards with my grandma.