John Lewis-Stempel
| John Lewis-Stempel | |
|---|---|
| Born | Hereford |
| Occupation | Writer |
John Lewis-Stempel is a historian, author and farmer, who was born in Herefordshire, England, where his family have lived for over seven hundred years.[1] He has written on a range of subjects from Native Americans to Fatherhood, but specialises in military history and natural history. His semi-autobiographical 'The Wild Life' was hailed by Paul Blezard, the literary editor of The Lady as 'Beautifully written. As close to poetry as you'll find in prose.'[2] Overall Lewis-Stempel has published nearly a hundred books, which have been published in languages as diverse as Portuguese Brazilian and Japanese, and which have sold over a million copies.[3] He was awarded a Society of Authors Foundation Award in 2012. He is a former columnist for the Sunday Express.
Lewis-Stempel started writing under the name 'Jon E. Lewis' for Constable & Robinson, for whom he still writes many books in the 'Autobiography' and 'Mammoth' series, among them the Amazon Top 50 Kindle seller 'London: The Autobiography'. Under his real name of John Lewis-Stempel he published 'Six Weeks: The Short and Gallant Life of the British Officer in the First World War'[4] in November 2010 to widespread acclaim; it was reviewed in The Literary Review as 'The single most moving book that I have read on the Great War.'[5] It subsequently became a No. 1 best-seller on WWI on Amazon. In 2011 he authored Young Herriot, a biographical account of the early years of James Herriot, to accompany the BBC series of the same title. His The War Behind the Wire, a study of British POWs in Germany in WW1, was released in January 2014. Max Hastings called it a 'noble service' in The Sunday Times. His latest book is Meadowland: The Private Life of an English Field, an Amazon Top 40 bestseller, and a Sunday Times non-fiction Top 30 hardback. The book won the Thwaites Wainwright prize and was also short-listed for BBC Countryfile's Country Book of the Year 2014. He frequently appears at festivals, and on radio and TV. In May 2014 he was a guest on BBC Radio 4's Start the Week.
Bibliography
- Meadowland: The Private Life of an English Field (2014)
- The War Behind the Wire: The Life, Death and Glory of British Prisoners of War, 1914-18 (2014)
- Foraging, The essential guide to wild food (2012)
- Young James Herriot: The Making of the World's Most Famous Vet (2012)
- Six Weeks: The Short and Gallant Life of the British Officer in the First World War: The Life and Death of the British Officer in the First World War (2011)
- Young Herriot: The Early Life and Times of James Herriot (2011)
- The Wild Life: A Year of Living on Wild Food (2010)
- The Autobiography of the British Soldier: From Agincourt to Basra, in His Own Words (2007)
- Fatherhood: An Anthology (2001)
Personal life
Lewis-Stempel lives on a farm in Herefordshire with his wife, Penelope, and children, Tristram and Freda.
References
- ↑ The Wild Life, Doubleday, 2009
- ↑ The Wild Life, Black Swan, 2010
- ↑ John Lewis-Stempel Author page at Amazon.co.uk
- ↑ Six Weeks The Short and Gallant Life of the British Officer in the First World War, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2010
- ↑ 'Fighting Words', Nigel H. Jones, The Literary Review, November, 2010
External links
- http://www.lawagency.co.uk/?page=writers&sub_page=specific&writers_id=82&filer=2
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/video/2009/may/23/hay-festival-john-lewis-stempel
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/nov/08/paperback-q-a-john-lewis-stempel
- http://www.countryfile.com/awards2014-15.