Chris Paling
{{Short description|English radio producer and author (1956–2024)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
Christopher David Paling (1956 – 5 February 2024) was a British radio producer, artist, playwright and author of modern fiction.
Biography
Born in 1956 in Derby, Paling studied social sciences at the University of Sussex.{{cite web|access-date=2021-06-28|title=Paling away|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/feb/24/fiction|date=24 February 2005|website=The Guardian}} He started working as a studio manager for BBC radio in 1981. In the early 1990s he had a Thirty Minute Theatre play called Way Station produced on BBC Radio 4. He wrote more radio plays and later began writing novels.
After the Raid (1995), a wartime study of a shattered mind, was closely followed by Deserters (1996) and Morning All Day (1997). Paling feared The Silent Sentry (1999), about a radio producer who cracks up, might be "the longest resignation letter in history", but he remained a Radio 4 producer. Newton's Swing (2000) was a subtle stateside thriller; The Repentant Morning (2003) is set in London and Spain in 1936; A Town by the Sea (2005) is a departure from his previous style, leading the reader through a strange landscape of unfamiliar people and places. Minding (2007), nominated for the Mind book of the year, was described as "a delicately and intimately drawn portrait".{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}
Paling wrote a series of plays entitled Words and Music, broadcast by BBC Radio 4 in the summer of 2013.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b036xx1l/episodes/guide|title=BBC Radio 4 Extra - Chris Paling - Words and Music - Episode guide|website=BBC|accessdate=August 16, 2019}} In 2017 his book Reading Allowed: True Stories and Curious Incidents from a Provincial Library was published.
Paling was married with two children, and lived in Brighton. He died in Hove on 5 February 2024.{{cite news |title=Christopher David Paling |url=https://funeral-notices.co.uk/notice/paling/5173874 |access-date=5 March 2024 |publisher=Funeral Notices |date=14 February 2024}}
Bibliography
- After the Raid (1995)
- Deserters (1996)
- Morning All Day (1997)
- The Silent Sentry (1999)
- Newton's Swing (2000){{cite web|access-date=2021-06-28|title=Guardian review: Newton's Swing by Chris Paling|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/jul/15/fiction.reviews2|date=15 July 2000|website=The Guardian}}
- The Repentant Morning (2003){{cite news|first1=DAVID|last1=GRYLLS|access-date=2021-06-28|title=Review: Fiction: The Repentant Morning by Chris Paling|url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/europe-travel/spain/review-fiction-the-repentant-morning-by-chris-paling-b90dshqpctx|issn=0140-0460|website=The Times}}{{cite web|access-date=2021-06-28|title=Review: The Repentant Morning by Chris Paling|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/feb/22/featuresreviews.guardianreview15|date=22 February 2003|website=The Guardian}}
- A Town by the Sea (2005){{cite web|first1=D. J.|last1=Taylor|access-date=2021-06-28|title=Review: A Town by the Sea by Chris Paling|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/feb/12/featuresreviews.guardianreview21|date=12 February 2005|website=The Guardian}}
- Minding (2007){{cite web|access-date=2021-06-28|title=Minding by Chris Paling|url=https://newhumanist.org.uk/1470/minding-by-chris-paling|website=New Humanist|date=11 July 2007 }}
- Nimrod's Shadow (2010){{cite web|first1=Liz|last1=Jensen|access-date=2021-06-28|title=Nimrod's Shadow by Chris Paling|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/apr/10/nimrods-shadow-chris-paling-review|date=9 April 2010|website=The Guardian}}
- Reading allowed: True stories and Curious Incidents from a Provincial Library (2017){{cite news|first1=Helen|last1=Davies|access-date=2021-06-28|title=Books: Reading Allowed: True Stories and Curious Incidents from a Provincial Library by Chris Paling|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/books-reading-allowed-true-stories-and-curious-incidents-from-a-provincial-library-by-chris-paling-rf5ptr6hm|issn=0140-0460|website=The Times|url-access=subscription}}
- A Very Nice Rejection Letter: Diary of a Novelist. Little, Brown Book, 2021. {{ISBN|9781472134875}}.{{cite news|first1=Jackie|last1=Annesley|access-date=2021-06-28|title=A Very Nice Rejection Letter by Chris Paling, review — the struggle to get published|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/a-very-nice-rejection-letter-by-chris-paling-review-the-struggle-to-get-published-cf9pglfhb|issn=0140-0460|website=The Times}}
References
External links
- {{Official website|www.chrispaling.com}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paling, Chris}}
Category:20th-century English novelists
Category:21st-century English novelists
Category:English radio writers
Category:Alumni of the University of Sussex
Category:English male novelists
Category:20th-century English male writers