Sarah Moss

Sarah Moss (born 1975)[1] is an English

writer and academic. She has published
six novels, as well as a number of non-
fiction works and academic texts. Her
work has been nominated three times for
the Wellcome Book Prize.[2] She was
appointed Assistant Professor of Creative
Writing at University College Dublin's
School of English, Drama and Film in the
Republic of Ireland with effect from
September 2020.[3]

Biography
Sarah Moss was born in Glasgow,
Scotland, and at the age of two moved
with her family to Manchester,[1] where she
lived until at the age of 18, when she went
to study at the University of Oxford.[4][2]
During the ten years she spent in Oxford,
she earned a BA, Master of Studies and
D.Phil in English Literature, and then held a
postdoctoral research fellowship.[4] From
2004 to 2009 she was a lecturer at the
University of Kent.[4] Following the
publication in 2009 of her first novel, Cold
Earth, Moss went to teach for a year at the
University of Iceland.[1] She then took up a
post as Senior Lecturer in Literature and
Place at Exeter University's Penryn
Campus in Cornwall, and subsequently
moved to the University of Warwick,
becoming Director of the Warwick Writing
Programme, teaching creative
writing.[4][5][6]

Awards
Moss's 2011 novel Night Waking won the
Fiction Uncovered Prize.[1][2] Her non-
fiction book Names for the Sea: Strangers
in Iceland was shortlisted for the Royal
Society of Literature's Ondaatje Prize in
2013.[2] In 2015 her novel Bodies of Light
was shortlisted for the Wellcome Book
Prize, and her novels Signs for Lost
Children and The Tidal Zone were also
shortlisted for the same award in 2016
and 2017 respectively. Her 2018 novel
Ghost Wall was shortlisted for the
Ondaatje Prize and the Polari Prize, and
was longlisted for the 2019 Women's Prize
for Fiction.[4][7][8]

Bibliography

Novels
 Cold Earth (Granta, 2009)[a]
Night Waking (Granta, 2011)[b]
Bodies of Light (Granta, 2014)[c]
Signs for Lost Children (Granta, 2015)[d]
The Tidal Zone (Granta, 2016)[e]
Ghost Wall (Granta, 2018)[f]
Summerwater (Pan Macmillan, 2020)[g]
The Fell (Pan Macmillan, 2021)[h]

Non-fiction

The Frozen Ship (2006)

Scott’s Last Biscuit: the literature of polar
exploration (2006)[i]
 Spilling the Beans: reading, writing, eating
and cooking in British women’s fiction
1770 – 1830[j]
Chocolate: A Global History (2009)[k]
Names for the Sea: Strangers in Iceland
(Granta, 2012)[l]

Critical studies and reviews of Moss'

work

Summerwater
Robson, Leo (22 March 2021). "Old
habits : in Sarah Moss's novel
'Summerwater,' there's no holiday from
history" (https://www.newyorker.com/m
agazine/2021/03/22/in-sarah-moss-ficti
on-theres-no-holiday-from-history) . The
 Critics. Books. The New Yorker. 97 (5):
69–71.[m]

———————

Notes
a. Walsh, Megan (11 June 2009). "Cold Earth
by Sarah Moss" (https://www.thetimes.co.u
k/article/cold-earth-by-sarah-moss-s8s9t5
bxdjj) . The Times.
b. Welsh, Louise (28 February 2011). "Night
Waking" (https://www.ft.com/content/de06
40da-4065-11e0-9140-00144feabdc0) .
Financial Times.
c. Wilson, Fiona (24 May 2014). "Bodies of
Light by Sarah Moss" (https://www.thetime
s.co.uk/article/bodies-of-light-by-sarah-mo
ss-htg0llh6pjf) . The Times.
d. Scholes, Lucy (23 July 2015). "Signs For
Lost Children by Sarah Moss: An astute
study of the sins of the mother" (https://ww
w.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/bo
oks/reviews/signs-for-lost-children-by-sara
h-moss-an-astute-study-of-the-sins-of-the-
mother-10410445.html) . The Independent.
e. Lively, Penelope (9 July 2016). "The Tidal
Zone by Sarah Moss review – a portrait of
parental anxiety" (https://www.theguardian.
com/books/2016/jul/09/the-tidal-zone-sara
h-moss-review-novel-nhs-parental-anxiety) .
The Guardian.
f. Talbot, Margaret (2 January 2019). "Sarah
Moss's 'Ghost Wall,' a Slender Novel That
Evokes Existential Dread" (https://www.new
yorker.com/recommends/read/sarah-moss
s-ghost-wall-a-slender-novel-that-evokes-exi
stential-dread) . The New Yorker.
g. "Summerwater by Sarah Moss" (http://ww
w.panmacmillan.com/%20/authors/sarah-
moss/summerwater/9781529035438) .
Pan Macmillan. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
h. "The Fell by Sarah Moss" (http://www.panm
acmillan.com/authors/sarah-moss/the-fell/
9781529083224) . Pan Macmillan.
Retrieved 10 November 2021.
i. Capelotti, P. J. (2007). "Review of Scott's
last biscuit: the literature of polar
exploration, by Sarah Moss". Polar
Research. 26 (2).
doi:10.3402/polar.v26i2.6214 (https://doi.or
g/10.3402%2Fpolar.v26i2.6214) .
j. Grogan, Claire (2012). "Spilling the Beans:
Eating, Cooking, Reading and Writing in
British Women's Fiction, 1770–1830".
European Journal of English Studies. 16
(1): 83–84.
doi:10.1080/13825577.2012.655162 (http
s://doi.org/10.1080%2F13825577.2012.65
5162) .
 k. Poole, Steven (19 December 2009). "Et
cetera: Steven Poole's non-fiction roundup"
(https://www.theguardian.com/books/200
9/dec/19/steven-poole-nonfiction-roundup-
review) . The Guardian.
l. Jamie, Kathleen (2 November 2012).
"Names for the Sea: Strangers in Iceland by
Sarah Moss – review" (https://www.theguar
dian.com/books/2012/nov/02/sea-iceland-
sarah-moss-review) . The Guardian.
m. Online version is titled "In Sarah Moss's
fiction, there’s no holiday from history".

References
1. Crown, Sarah (2 July 2016). "Interview: 'You
can't abandon your reader in a howling
wasteland' " (https://www.theguardian.co
 m/books/2016/jul/02/sarah-moss-night-wa
king-tidal-zone-interview) . The Guardian.
Retrieved 19 July 2020.
2. "Sarah Moss" (https://wellcomebookprize.o
rg/author/sarah-moss) . Wellcome Book
Prize.
3. "Acclaimed Author Sarah Moss to join UCD"
(https://www.ucd.ie/artshumanities/newsa
ndevents/acclaimedauthorsarahmosstojoi
nucd/) . UCD. 28 November 2019. Retrieved
21 August 2020.
4. "About" (http://www.sarahmoss.org/abou
t/) . Sarah Moss. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
5. "Professor Sarah Moss" (https://warwick.a
c.uk/fac/arts/english/people/mossdrsara
h/) . University of Warwick.
 6. "About | Sarah Moss" (https://www.sarahm
oss.org/about/) . Retrieved 3 November
2019.
7. "A Q&A with Sarah Moss" (https://www.wo
mensprizeforfiction.co.uk/reading-room/for
-readers/author-features/a-qa-with-sarah-m
oss#:~:text=Sarah%20Moss%20has%20bee
n%20longlisted,and%20Brexit's%20impact%
20on%20writers) . Women's Prize for
Fiction.
8. "Sarah Moss" (https://www.womensprizefor
fiction.co.uk/reading-room/writer/sarah-m
oss) . Women's Prize for Fiction. Retrieved
19 July 2020.

External links
 Sarah Moss (http://www.sarahmoss.or
g/about/)

Portals: United Kingdom

Biography

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