Pauline Melville's picture

Pauline Melville


UK flag (b.1948)

Pauline Melville is a Guyanese-born writer and actress. She now lives in London.

She appeared in films such as Mona Lisa (playing the part of Dawn), as Dora in The Long Good Friday, among others. She also appeared in television programmes: as Vyvyans's mother in the BBC Television comedy series The Young Ones; as Yvonne in Girls On Top, among others.

Her first book, Shape-Shifter (1990), a collection of short stories, won the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best First Book) and the Guardian Fiction Prize.
 

Genres: Literary Fiction
 
Novels
   The Ventriloquist's Tale (1997)
   Eating Air (2009)
thumbthumb
 
Collections
   Shape-Shifter (1990)
   The Migration of Ghosts (1998)
   24 Stories of Hope (2018) (with others)
   The Master of Chaos and Other Fables (2021)
thumbthumbthumbthumb
 
Awards
Whitbread Prize Best First Novel winner (1997) : The Ventriloquist's Tale
Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction Best Book nominee (1998) : The Ventriloquist's Tale
Women's Prize For Fiction Best Novel nominee (1998) : The Ventriloquist's Tale




About Fantastic Fiction       Information for Authors