Geoff Nicholson
Geoff J. Nicholson | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 4 March 1953 Hillsborough, Sheffield, England |
| Died | 18 January 2025 (aged 71) Colchester, Essex, England |
| Occupation | Novelist, non-fiction writer |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | |
| Spouse |
|
| Partner | Caroline Gannon |
Geoffrey Joseph Nicholson (4 March 1953 – 18 January 2025) was a British novelist and non-fiction writer.[1]
Background
[edit]Geoffrey Joseph Nicholson was born in Hillsborough, Sheffield on 4 March 1953.[2][3] He studied English at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and Modern European Drama at the University of Essex.[4]
Career
[edit]Nicholson was generally regarded as a satirist in the tradition of Evelyn Waugh,[5] his writing also being compared favorably with that of Kinsgley and Martin Amis, Jonathan Coe,[6] Will Self and Zadie Smith.[7] The main themes and features of his books included leading characters with major obsessions, sexual and otherwise (guitars, Volkswagens, women's feet and shoes), interweaving storylines and hidden subcultures and societies. His books usually contained a lot of black humour. He also wrote several works of non-fiction and many short stories. His novel Bleeding London was shortlisted for the 1997 Whitbread Prize.
His travelogue Day Trips to the Desert was read on Radio 4 by Bill Nighy.
His novel What We Did on Our Holidays was made into the 2007 film Permanent Vacation, featuring David Carradine, directed by W. Scott Peake.[8][9][10][11]
He was a member of the delegation of Los Angeles writers and filmmakers invited by the National Endowment for the Arts to participate in the Guadalajara International Book Festival in 2009.
Personal life and death
[edit]Nicholson's marriages to Tessa Robinson and Dian Hanson ended in divorce.[4] At the time of his death, he was in a relationship with Caroline Gannon.[4]
Nicholson died from chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia at a Colchester hospital on 18 January 2025, at the age of 71.[3][4]
Bibliography
[edit]Novels
[edit]- Street Sleeper (1987)
- The Knot Garden (1989)
- What We Did on Our Holidays (1990)
- Hunters and Gatherers (1991)
- The Food Chain (1992)
- The Errol Flynn Novel (1993)
- Still Life with Volkswagens (1994)
- Everything and More (1994)
- Footsucker (1995)
- Bleeding London (1997)
- Flesh Guitar (1998)
- Female Ruins (1999)
- Bedlam Burning (2000)
- The Hollywood Dodo (2004)
- Gravity's Volkswagen (2009)
- The City Under the Skin (2014); Turkish translation: Haritali Adam (2015)
- The Miranda (2017)
Non-fiction
[edit]- Big Noises (1991)
- Day Trips to the Desert (1993)
- Andy Warhol: A Beginner's Guide (2002)
- Frank Lloyd Wright: A Beginner's Guide (2002)
- Sex Collectors (2006)
- The Lost Art of Walking (2008)
- Walking in Ruins (2013)
- The London Complaint (2016)
- The Suburbanist (2021)
- Walking on Thin Air (2023)
References
[edit]- ^ Nussbaum, Emily (18 June 2006). "If You Show Me Yours". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 July 2011.
- ^ The Lost Art of Walking, Riverhead Books (2008).
- ^ a b Lapper, Richard (17 February 2025). "Geoff Nicholson obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 February 2025.
- ^ a b c d Gabriel, Trip (9 March 2025). "Geoff Nicholson, Author of Darkly Comic Novels, Dies at 71". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 March 2025.
- ^ Caserio, Robert L.; Hawes, Clement (12 January 2012). The Cambridge History of the English Novel. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781316175101.
- ^ Caserio, Robert L.; Hawes, Clement (12 January 2012). The Cambridge History of the English Novel. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781316175101.
- ^ Ridenhour, Jamieson (1 January 2013). In Darkest London: The Gothic Cityscape in Victorian Literature. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780810887770.
- ^ "Permanent Vacation | Film 2007 | TV-MEDIA". tv-media.at (in German). Retrieved 21 January 2024.
- ^ Aden, Josh (6 September 2007). "Featured destination". Daily Pilot. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
- ^ "Permanent Vacation". TV Guide. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
- ^ "Blasts from the Past – SoCal Film Awards". Retrieved 21 January 2024.
External links
[edit]- GeoffNicholsonWriter.com
- Geoff Nicholson at Tripod.com (personal site)
- Geoff Nicholson at Complete Review
- An interview with Geoff Nicholson on Notebook on Cities and Culture
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- 1953 births
- 2025 deaths
- 20th-century English male writers
- 20th-century English novelists
- 21st-century English male writers
- 21st-century English novelists
- Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
- Alumni of the University of Essex
- Deaths from chronic myeloid leukemia
- Deaths from leukemia in England
- English male non-fiction writers
- English male novelists
- English travel writers
- People from Hillsborough, Sheffield
- Writers from Sheffield
- British novelist stubs