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1935-1996
Author of fiction and non-fiction. Born at Cannock, Staffordshire, the son of a coal miner. He attended Rugeley Grammar School before going on to the University of London. He became a school teacher, progressing in his career to become Headmaster of Downsview School in Hackney. His success as a writer, particularly the Isobel Quirk trilogy, enabled him to turn to writing full-time. Forties child (1978) is an autobiograpical account of his childhood.
He was Arts Council of Great Britain Fellow in Creative Writing at Lancaster from 1982 to 1983, during which time he wrote Mates (1983) and the collection, Drifters (1984). These were to be his most open treatment of homosexuality and he is a sensitive writer on this topic. His writing is characterised by the exploration of emotion, particularly through ordinary, potentially socially excluded, characters, and an optimism that transcends this ordinariness into a vision of sympathy and hope.
The following works are available in the West Midlands Creative Literature Collection:-
Forties' child (1978)
Isobel Quirk in orbit (1980)
Other fiction by Tom Wakefield:-
Trixie Trash, star ascending (1977)
The love siege (1979)
Mates (1983)
Drifters (1984)
The discus throwers (1985)
The variety artistes (1987)
Lot's wife (1989)
Secret lives; three novellas (1991) [ with P.Gale and F.
King ]
War paint (1993)
The scarlet boy (1998) [ completed by Patrick Gale ]
Page created 24 November 2001 and last
updated 21 January 2003
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