Paul West (writer)
| Paul West | |
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Paul West in Florida, 2010
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| Born | Paul Noden West February 23, 1930 Eckington, Derbyshire, England |
| Died | October 18, 2015 (aged 85) Ithaca, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Author, professor |
| Genre | Novels, poetry, memoirs, essays |
| Spouses | Paula Radcliffe (1960) Diane Ackerman |
Paul West (23 February 1930 – 18 October 2015) was a British-born American novelist, poet, and essayist. He was born in Eckington, Derbyshire in England to Alfred and Mildred (Noden) West. Before his death, he resided in Ithaca, New York, with his wife Diane Ackerman, a writer, poet, and naturalist. West is the author of more than 50 books.
West grew up in a mining town in Derbyshire, England. His father, partly blinded in World War I, was often unemployed. His mother, a talented pianist, gave private lessons to help support the family. She encouraged West in his love of words and his literary ambitions. In a 1989 interview by author and literary critic David W. Madden, West said he was also encouraged by three teachers, "amazing women who taught English, French, and Latin and Greek" at an otherwise "mediocre grammar school". They were, he said, "...marvelous to me. They encouraged me because they felt I had some gift for languages and should pursue that, and they groomed me."
After graduating with honors in English from the University of Birmingham, West studied at Lincoln College, Oxford, and then Columbia University in the United States, from which he graduated with a master's degree in 1953. His early life also included a stint in the Royal Air Force, during which he achieved the rank of flight lieutenant. He later taught English literature at Memorial University of Newfoundland and, in 1963, began teaching at Pennsylvania State University. It was there in the early 1970s that he met Diane Ackerman, who became his wife.
Among other honors, West's literary awards have included the American Academy of Arts and Letters award for literature (1985), the Lannan Prize for fiction (1993), and the Grand-Prix Halpèrine-Kaminsky Prize (1993) for best foreign book. West was named a "literary lion" by the New York Public Library and a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters (Ordre des Arts et Lettres) by the French government.
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