Michael Holroyd
Biographer Michael Holroyd was born in 1935 and was educated at Eton College. His first book was a biography of the writer Hugh Kingsmill, published in 1964. The publication in 1967 and 1968 of his biography of Lytton Strachey was hailed as a landmark in contemporary biography and, six years later, his biography of the painter Augustus John confirmed his place as one of the most influential modern biographers. His biography of Strachey was used as a basis for Christopher Hampton's film Carrington (1994). The four volumes of Holroyd's life of Bernard Shaw appeared between 1988 and 1992 to critical acclaim.
Besides the lives of Augustus John, Bernard Shaw and Lytton Strachey, Michael Holroyd has written two volumes of memoirs, Basil Street Blues and Mosaic. He is the current president of the Royal Society of Literature and the only non-fiction writer to have been awarded the British Literature Prize. He lives in London and Somerset with his wife, the novelist Margaret Drabble.