Joan Brady
Encyclopedia
Joan Brady is a writer
. She is the first woman, and so far the only American, to win the prestigious Whitbread Book of the Year Award. Other winners include Seamus Heaney
and Ted Hughes
.
to Mildred Edie Brady
and Robert A. Brady. She has a sister Judy Brady. Prior to becoming an author, she was a dancer with the San Francisco Ballet
and the New York City Ballet
then went on to study philosophy at Columbia University
in New York
. She married the late author, Dexter Masters, in 1963 and her son is author Alexander Masters
, author of the acclaimed Stuart, A Life Backwards. She currently lives in Oxford, England
.
, won the prize in 1993 and was hailed as a "modern work of genius". This book also won the French Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger
and a US National Endowment for the Arts grant. It tells the story of her grandfather, a white child sold as a slave right after the Civil War when the Emancipation Proclamation meant that African Americans could no longer be sold, and so many soldiers had died in the war that there were thousands of orphans. The psychological consequences of such a background--for the slave himself and for the generations that followed him--are the main concern of the novel. Two novels followed, Death Comes for Peter Pan, an expose of medical abuse in America, and The Emigre, the adventures of a conman. Her autobiography appears under both the titles Prologue and The Unmaking of a Dancer.
Bleedout is her first thriller. She started writing crime fiction when her local Council threatened her with prison for trying to defend herself against a polluting industry. She defeated the Council in court and won a large settlement from the industry, but this personal experience of political injustice and corruption shocked her into seeking a way to expose it. Bleedout takes place against a backdrop of just such political and corporate corruption--but on a national scale--and follows two men, one a murderer, another his mentor in the process of being murdered as the action progresses. Its sequel Venom, published in 2010, introduces the theme of pharmaceutical ruthlessness in pursuit of a cure for radiation poisoning.
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....
. She is the first woman, and so far the only American, to win the prestigious Whitbread Book of the Year Award. Other winners include Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney is an Irish poet, writer and lecturer. He lives in Dublin. Heaney has received the Nobel Prize in Literature , the Golden Wreath of Poetry , T. S. Eliot Prize and two Whitbread prizes...
and Ted Hughes
Ted Hughes
Edward James Hughes OM , more commonly known as Ted Hughes, was an English poet and children's writer. Critics routinely rank him as one of the best poets of his generation. Hughes was British Poet Laureate from 1984 until his death.Hughes was married to American poet Sylvia Plath, from 1956 until...
.
Personal life
Brady was born in San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
to Mildred Edie Brady
Mildred Edie Brady
Mildred Edie Brady was a freelance writer for The New Republic who is mostly known for writing the May 26, 1947 article The Strange Case of Wilhelm Reich about psychiatrist William Reich's controversial...
and Robert A. Brady. She has a sister Judy Brady. Prior to becoming an author, she was a dancer with the San Francisco Ballet
San Francisco Ballet
The San Francisco Ballet is a ballet company, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, under the direction of Helgi Tomasson. SFB is the first professional ballet company in the United States...
and the New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Leon Barzin was the company's first music director. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company...
then went on to study philosophy at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. She married the late author, Dexter Masters, in 1963 and her son is author Alexander Masters
Alexander Masters
Alexander Masters is an author, screenwriter, and worker with the homeless. He lives in Cambridge, United Kingdom.Masters is the son of authors Dexter Masters and Joan Brady. He was educated at Bedales School, and took a first in physics from King's College London...
, author of the acclaimed Stuart, A Life Backwards. She currently lives in Oxford, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Works
Her second novel, Theory of WarTheory of War
Theory of War is a 1992 novel by American author Joan Brady. It took her ten years to write but was rejected by her US agent. It was then published by UK publisher Andre Deutsch to 'rapturous reviews' It has been compared to the writing of John Steinbeck, Jack London and Frank Norris-Awards:It...
, won the prize in 1993 and was hailed as a "modern work of genius". This book also won the French Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger
Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger
The Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger is a French literary prize created in 1948. It is awarded yearly in two categories: Novel and Essay for books translated in to French.- Prix du Meilleur livre étranger — Novel :* 2010: Gonçalo M...
and a US National Endowment for the Arts grant. It tells the story of her grandfather, a white child sold as a slave right after the Civil War when the Emancipation Proclamation meant that African Americans could no longer be sold, and so many soldiers had died in the war that there were thousands of orphans. The psychological consequences of such a background--for the slave himself and for the generations that followed him--are the main concern of the novel. Two novels followed, Death Comes for Peter Pan, an expose of medical abuse in America, and The Emigre, the adventures of a conman. Her autobiography appears under both the titles Prologue and The Unmaking of a Dancer.
Bleedout is her first thriller. She started writing crime fiction when her local Council threatened her with prison for trying to defend herself against a polluting industry. She defeated the Council in court and won a large settlement from the industry, but this personal experience of political injustice and corruption shocked her into seeking a way to expose it. Bleedout takes place against a backdrop of just such political and corporate corruption--but on a national scale--and follows two men, one a murderer, another his mentor in the process of being murdered as the action progresses. Its sequel Venom, published in 2010, introduces the theme of pharmaceutical ruthlessness in pursuit of a cure for radiation poisoning.