Barney Norris

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Barney Norris FRSL[1] (born 1987) is an English writer.[2]

Early life

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Norris was born in Chichester in West Sussex, later moving to Wiltshire where he attended Bishop Wordsworth's School in Salisbury. He studied English at Keble College, Oxford, and creative writing at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Career

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After leaving university, he founded the touring Up in Arms Theatre Company[3] with the director Alice Hamilton, and worked in the theatre as assistant to Thelma Holt, Michael Frayn, Peter Gill, and Max Stafford-Clark, before becoming a full-time writer. He is a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Oxford, and reviews fiction regularly for The Guardian.

Writing

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Norris's early plays were produced by his company Up in Arms, usually on tour and often in partnership with other theatres.[4] Following the success of his first full-length play Visitors,[5] he began to write for other companies, and has since worked with Salisbury Playhouse,[6] the Bush Theatre,[7] Oxford Playhouse, the Arcola Theatre, the Royal and Derngate, Out of Joint, the Bridge Theatre and Riverside Studios, among others

His first novel, Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain, was published in 2016; he has since published three other novels, including Undercurrent in 2022, and two books of non-fiction.

Politics

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In February 2024, Norris was announced as the Green Party of England and Wales candidate for the Salisbury constituency at the 2024 general election.[8]

He has also acted as an ambassador for south-west based homelessness charity Alabare, as a member of the Society of Authors Sustainability Committee and chair of the Scriptwriters Committee, and as a member of the Writers Guild of Great Britain Theatre Negotiating Team.

Awards

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Selected works

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Fiction

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  • Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain (2016)
  • Turning for Home (2018)
  • The Vanishing Hours (2019)
  • Undercurrent (2022)

Theatre

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Adaptations

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Collaborations

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  • The Wellspring with David Owen Norris (2022, Royal & Derngate and tour)

Radio

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  • While We're Here (2018, BBC Radio 4)
  • Song and Dance (2019, BBC Radio 4)
  • The Queen of the Isle of Wight (2021, BBC Radio 4)

Non-fiction

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  • To Bodies Gone: The Theatre of Peter Gill (2014)
  • The Wellspring: Conversations with David Owen Norris (2018)

References

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  1. ^ "Royal Society of Literature » Barney Norris". Royal Society of Literature. September 2023.
  2. ^ "Barney Norris". Penguin Random House.
  3. ^ "Up in Arms – A Touring Theatre Company". Up in Arms Theatre Company.
  4. ^ Billington, Michael (9 March 2014). "Visitors Review – 'Infinitely Touching'". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  5. ^ Isherwood, Charles (2 January 2015). "Fusillades Piercing a Fog of Dementia". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  6. ^ "Echo's End : Wiltshire Creative". www.wiltshirecreative.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  7. ^ "While We're Here". Bush Theatre.
  8. ^ "Barney Norris Named Green Party Candidate for Salisbury". Salisbury Journal. 6 February 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  9. ^ "Review: Blood Wedding (Salisbury Playhouse)". 12 February 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
  10. ^ "BLOOD WEDDING – Omnibus Theatre". Retrieved 2 April 2025.
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