1. Sarah Ann Waters was born on 21 July 1966 and is a Welsh novelist.
22 Facts About Sarah Waters
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Sarah Waters is best known for her novels set in Victorian society and featuring lesbian protagonists, such as Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith.
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Sarah Waters was born in Neyland, Pembrokeshire, Wales, in 1966.
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Sarah Waters later moved to Middlesbrough, England, when she was eight years old.
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Sarah Waters grew up in a family that included her father Ron, mother Mary, and a "much older" sister.
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Sarah Waters's mother was a housewife and her father an engineer who worked on oil refineries.
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Sarah Waters describes her family as "pretty idyllic, very safe and nurturing".
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Sarah Waters was a supporter of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, joining as a result of her boyfriend at the time.
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Sarah Waters received a BA from the University of Kent, an MA from Lancaster University, and a PhD from Queen Mary, University of London.
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Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus had a huge influence on her debut novel as well; Sarah Waters praises Carter for her literary prose, her "common touch", and her commitment to feminism.
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Sarah Waters has been in a relationship with copy editor Lucy Vaughan since 2002.
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Sarah Waters went directly from her doctoral thesis to her first novel.
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Sarah Waters's work is very research-intensive, which is an aspect she enjoys.
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Sarah Waters was briefly a member of the long-running London North Writers circle, whose members have included the novelists Charles Palliser and Neil Blackmore, among others.
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Sarah Waters combined her interests in spiritualism, prisons, and the Victorian era in Affinity, which tells the story of the relationship between an upper-middle-class woman and an imprisoned spiritualist.
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Sarah Waters describes it as "fundamentally a novel about disappointment and loss and betrayal", as well as "real contact between people and genuine intimacy".
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In 2005, Sarah Waters received the highest bid during a charity auction in which the prize was the opportunity to have the winner's name immortalised in The Night Watch.
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Sarah Waters was named as one of Grantas 20 "Best of Young British Writers" in January 2003.
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Sarah Waters was named Author of the Year at the 2003 British Book Awards.
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Sarah Waters was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2009.
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Sarah Waters has featured on the Pinc List of leading Welsh LGBT figures.
22.
Sarah Waters was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to literature.