Jonathan Smith (novelist)

Jonathan Smith
Born 1942 (age 7273)
Gloucestershire, England
Occupation Novelist, writer, teacher
Nationality British
Genre Historical fiction
Semi-autobiographical
Children 2

Jonathan Smith (born 1942) is an English novelist, writer and teacher. A career English teacher, he is best known for his novels and has written numerous radio plays.

Early life and education

Smith was born in Gloucestershire to a family of teachers originally from the Rhondda Valley in South Wales.[1] He boarded at Christ College, Brecon and read English at St John's College, Cambridge.

Career

Smith took up his first teaching job at Loretto School near Edinburgh in Scotland. After a brief stint at Melbourne Grammar School in Australia, he taught at Tonbridge School for the rest of his career and was head of English for 17 years.[1] He published several novels during his teaching career before retiring in 2003 to concentrate on writing. His former pupils at Tonbridge include musician Kit Hesketh-Harvey, novelist Vikram Seth[2] and actor Dan Stevens.[3]

Personal life

Smith and his wife Gillian have a daughter and a son. His son Ed was his former pupil at Tonbridge and is a former England cricketer and published author.

In 2006, shortly after being diagnosed with cancer, he and his son went on a trip to India.[2] It was the inspiration for his book The Following Game, published in 2011.[4]

His first novel Wilfred and Eileen was adapted into a BBC short feature. He also wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of Summer in February, starring Dominic Cooper, Emily Browning and Dan Stevens, which was released in June 2013.[5]

Bibliography

Novels

Autobiographical

Radio dramas

References