Sarah Waters

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Sarah Waters**
Sarah Waters at a book signing
Born:	1966 Neyland, Pembrokeshire, Wales
Occupation(s):	novelist
Nationality:	British
Writing period:	1998-2006
Debut work(s):	Tipping the Velvet (1998)
Website:	http://www.sarahwaters.com

Sarah Waters (born in Neyland, Pembrokeshire, Wales, 1966) is a British novelist. Her most famous work is the Victorian lesbian novel Tipping the Velvet (1998), which was adapted into a three-part television serial, also called Tipping the Velvet, for BBC Two in 2002. She has also written two other novels set in the same period: Affinity (1999), which is centred on the world of Victorian spiritualism and won the Stonewall Book Award and Somerset Maugham Award, and Fingersmith (2002), which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Orange Prize. Fingersmith was made into a serial for BBC One in 2005, starring Sally Hawkins, Elaine Cassidy and Imelda Staunton.

Waters has degrees in English Literature from the University of Kent (BA), Lancaster University (MA), and from the University of London's Queen Mary and Westfield College (as it was known in her time) (PhD). Her work for her PhD dissertation, on gay and lesbian historical fiction, apparently inspired Tipping the Velvet.

Waters' popularity in England became evident in 2005 when she received the highest bid during an auction where a real person's name would be immortalized in one of her novels. The auction featured many notable British novelists, and the bidder, Marina Carr, had a modified version of her name featured in Waters' novel The Night Watch.

The Night Watch (2006) traces back through 1940s London, following three lesbian women, one straight woman and one gay man, their secrets, shames and scandals that connect them all, despite their different experiences. It has been shortlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize and longlisted for the 2006 Orange Prize. It has received rave reviews from many critics in the UK. Waters lives in London.

1 Bibliography
- 1.1 Translations
2 Awards
3 External links

[edit] Bibliography

Tipping the Velvet, 1998
Affinity, 1999
Fingersmith, 2002
The Night Watch, 2006

[edit] Translations

Dutch

Vingervlug, 2004
Fluwelen begeerte, 2006
Affiniteit, 2006
De nachtwacht, 2006, ISBN 90-388-8443-5

German

Selinas Geister, 2002
Die Muschelöffnerin, 2002
Solange du lügst, 2003

Italian

Ladra, 2003
Affinità, 2004

Russian

Тонкая работа, 2004 (издательство: Росмэн-Пресс)

[edit] Awards

Betty Trask Award, 1999, Tipping the Velvet
Library Journal's Best Book of the Year, 1999, Tipping the Velvet
Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, 1999, Tipping the Velvet
New York Times Notable Book of the Year Award, 1999, Tipping the Velvet
Stonewall Book Award (American Library Association GLBT Roundtable Book Award), 2000, Affinity
Arts Council of Wales Book of the Year Award (shortlist), 2000, Affinity
Ferro-Grumley Award for Lesbian and Gay Fiction (shortlist), 2000, Tipping the Velvet
Ferro-Grumley Award for Lesbian and Gay Fiction, 2000, Affinity
Lambda Literary Award for Fiction, 2000, Tipping the Velvet
Lambda Literary Award for Fiction (shortlist), 2000, Affinity
Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize (shortlist), 2000, Affinity
Somerset Maugham Award for Lesbian and Gay Fiction, 2000, Affinity
Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, 2000, Affinity
British Book Awards Author of the Year, 2002, Fingersmith
Crime Writers' Association Ellis Peters Historical Dagger, 2002, Fingersmith
Man Booker Prize for Fiction (shortlist), 2002, Fingersmith
Orange Prize for Fiction (shortlist), 2002, Fingersmith
Man Booker Prize for Fiction (shortlist), 2006, The Night Watch
Orange Prize for Fiction (shortlist), 2006, The Night Watch