Dan Jacobson is a novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

ist, short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

, critic

Critic

A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...

 and essay

Essay

An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...

ist. He has lived in Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 for most of his adult life, and for many years held a professorship in the English Department at University College London

University College London

University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...

. He has also spent periods as a visiting writer or a guest-professor at universities in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, and South Africa, and has given lectures and readings in many other countries.

His early novels, including The Trap, his first published novel, focus on South African themes. His later works have been various in kind: they include works of fantasy and fictional treatments of historical episodes, as well as memoirs, critical essays, and travel books. Among the awards and prizes he has received are the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize

John Llewellyn Rhys Prize

The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize is a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of literature by an author from the Commonwealth aged 35 or under, written in English and published in the United Kingdom...

 1959 (A Long Way from London and Other Stories); Somerset Maugham Award

Somerset Maugham Award

The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each May by the Society of Authors. It is awarded to whom they judge to be the best writer or writers under the age of thirty-five of a book published in the past year. The prize was instituted in 1947 by William Somerset Maugham and thus...

 1964 (Time of Arrival and Other Essays); The Jewish Chronicle

The Jewish Chronicle

The Jewish Chronicle is a London-based Jewish newspaper. Founded in 1841, it is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world.-Publication data and readership figures:...

 Award 1977 (The Confessions of Josef Baisz); the J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography

J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography

The J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography is awarded annually by the English Centre for International PEN to given to a literary autobiography of excellence, written by an author of British nationality and published during the preceding year. The winner receives £1,000 and a silver pen. The winner...

 1986 (Time and Time Again). In the year 2000 he edited and translated from the Dutch Een mond vol Glas by Henk van Woerden

Henk van Woerden

Henk van Woerden was a Dutch painter and writer with close ties to South Africa.-Biography:He was born in Leiden. In 1956 he emigrated with his family to Cape Town, South Africa. Van Woerden matriculated in 1964 at the Fine Arts faculty of the University of Cape Town...

, an imaginative re-creation of the circumstances leading to the assassination of a South African president, Dr Hendrik Verwoerd, in the country's House of Assembly.

Dan Jacobson has received an Honorary D. Litt. from the University of the Witwatersrand

University of the Witwatersrand

The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg is a South African university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University...

, Johannesburg, and on retirement from his position at University College London was elected a Fellow of the college. Collections of his papers can be found at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center

Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center

The Harry Ransom Center is a library and archive at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the United States and Europe. The Ransom Center houses 36 million literary manuscripts, 1 million rare books, 5 million photographs, and more...

, Austin, Texas; Oxford University, England; and, in South Africa, at Witwatersrand University Library, Johannesburg, the National English Literary Museum

National English Literary Museum

The National English Literary Museum houses extensive archival material relating to Southern African English Literature. It is located in Grahamstown. NELM has principally three collections: manuscripts, books and journals, and press clippings...

, Grahamstown, and the Africana Museum, Kimberley

Kimberley, Northern Cape

Kimberley is a city in South Africa, and the capital of the Northern Cape. It is located near the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The town has considerable historical significance due its diamond mining past and siege during the Second Boer War...

.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature

Royal Society of Literature

The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...

 in 2007.

Works

• The Trap (1955)
• A Dance in the Sun (1956)
• The Price of Diamonds (1958)
• The Zulu and the Zeide (1959)
• The Evidence of Love (1960)
• No Further West (1961)
• Time of Arrival (1963) (essays)
• Beggar My Neighbor (1964) (short stories)
• The Beginners (1966)
• Through the Wilderness and Other Stories (1968)
• The Rape of Tamar (1970)
• The Boss (1971)
• Inklings (1973) (short stories)
• The Wonder-Worker (1973)
• The Confessions of Josef Baisz (1979)
• The Story of the Stories: The Chosen People and Its God (1982) (non-fiction)
• Time and Time Again: Autobiographies (1985)
• Her Story (1987)
• Adult Pleasures: Essays on Writers and Readers (1989)
• Hidden in the Heart (1991)
• The God-Fearer (1992)
• The Electronic Elephant (1994)
• Heshel's Kingdom (1998)
• A Mouthful of Glass – translated and edited from Henk van Woerden's Een Mond vol Glas (2000)
• All For Love (2005)

External links

• Dan Jacobson Collection at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin
  University of Texas at Austin
  The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...