Barney Norris

Barney Norris, FRSL^[1] (born 1987) is a British writer.^[2]

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Early life

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

Career

After leaving university, he set up 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 an associate artist at the Watermill Theatre,^[4] teaches creative writing at the University of Oxford and writes regularly in the national press, including book reviews for The Guardian and articles for The Author.

He is an amabassador for Alabaré Christian Care, a charity supporting homeless adults, young people, veterans and those with learning disabilities based in his home city of Salisbury, and a patron of Studio Theatre Salisbury and Salisbury Literary Festival. His advocacy work on behalf of writers and writing includes presently serving as Chair of the Society of Authors’ Scriptwriters Committee, and a member of the Writers Guild of Great Britain negotiating team.

Writing

Norris's early plays were produced by his company Up in Arms, usually on tour and often in partnership with other theatres.^[5] Following the success of his first full-length play Visitors,^[6] he began to write for other companies, and has since worked with Salisbury Playhouse,^[7] the Bush Theatre,^[8] Oxford Playhouse, the Arcola Theatre, the Royal and Derngate, Out of Joint and the Bridge Theatre, 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

In February 2024, Norris was announced as the Green Party of England and Wales candidate for the Salisbury constituency at the forthcoming general election.^[9]

Awards

2014 – Critics' Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright for Visitors
2015 – Selected as one of the Evening Standard's Progress 1000
2016 – Betty Trask Award for Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain
2016 – South Bank Sky Arts Times Breakthrough Award for Literature
2018 – One Book Award for Turning For Home
2018 – Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
2019 – Award for Excellence in International Theatre from the International Theatre Institute

Selected works

Fiction

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

Theatre

Visitors (2014, Up in Arms, Arcola Theatre, Bush Theatre and tour)
Every You Every Me (2015, Salisbury Playhouse and tour)
Eventide (2015, Up in Arms, Arcola Theatre and tour)
Echo's End (2017, Salisbury Playhouse)
While We're Here (2017, Up in Arms, Bush Theatre, BBC Radio 4 and tour)
Nightfall (2018, Bridge Theatre)
We Started To Sing (2022, Arcola Theatre)

Adaptations

The Remains of the Day (2019, Out of Joint, Northampton Royal and Derngate, Oxford Playhouse and tour)
Blood Wedding (2020, Up in Arms and Salisbury Playhouse)