Liz Fenwick
{{Short description|Award-winning American novelist living in Cornwall}}
{{COI|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Liz Fenwick
| image = Liz Fenwick.jpg
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1963}}
| occupation = Novelist
| awards = RNA annual Award Winner for Popular Romantic Fiction, 2022
| website = {{URL|lizfenwick.com}}
| genre = Commercial fiction
| alma_mater = Mount Holyoke College
| birth_place = Massachusetts, U.S.
| years_active = 2012–present
}}
Liz Fenwick (born 1963) is an American writer of commercial fiction, living in Cornwall, England. She has published nine novels and two novellas taking her inspiration from Cornwall's history and landscape,{{Cite web |last=glass |first=Pour me a |date=2020-09-25 |title=Liz Fenwick on Cornwall ⋆ |url=https://www.lizhurleywrites.com/2020/09/25/liz-fenwick/ |access-date=2024-01-23 |website=Liz Hurley Writes |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |last=Berger |first=Hugo |date=2013-07-16 |title=How Liz Fenwick's memories of Cornwall help her write novels in Dubai |url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/books/how-liz-fenwick-s-memories-of-cornwall-help-her-write-novels-in-dubai-1.301413 |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=The National |language=en}} and in 2017 was named "the queen of the contemporary Cornish novel"{{Cite news |last=Barnett |first=David |date=2017-09-25 |title=Rugged coastline and hunky blokes: is Cornwall the UK's new literary capital? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2017/sep/25/cornwall-the-uks-new-literary-capital |access-date=2024-01-22 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} by The Guardian.
Her debut novel,The Cornish House,{{Cite web |last=Lee-Potter |first=Emma |date=2012-05-29 |title=Interview with Liz Fenwick – author of The Cornish House |url=https://www.emmaleepotter.com/blog/interview-with-liz-fenwick-author-of-the-cornish-house/ |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=Emma Lee-Potter |language=en-US}} was first published by Orion in 2012.{{Cite web |date=2012-05-25 |title=THE CORNISH HOUSE, Liz Fenwick's debut novel, is launched! |url=http://blakefriedmann.co.uk/news/the-cornish-house-liz-fenwicks-debut-novel-is-launched |access-date=2024-01-23 |website=Blake Friedmann |language=en-GB}} Her ninth novel, The Secret Shore, was published in May 2023 by HQ, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.{{Cite web |title=The Secret Shore |url=https://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/the-secret-shore/ |access-date=2024-02-02 |website=Historical Novel Society}} Her books have been translated into 15 languages.{{Cite web |date=2023-10-11 |title=Novella |url=https://alittlebookproblem.co.uk/category/bookish-things/novella/ |access-date=2024-02-12 |website=A Little Book Problem |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Liz Fenwick: books, biography, latest update |url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Liz%20Fenwick/author/B005PJTIPO/about |access-date=2024-02-12 |website=Amazon.co.uk |language=en-gb}}
Biography
Born in 1963 in Massachusetts, US, Fenwick studied English Literature at Mount Holyoke College in the USA, graduating in 1985, before relocating to the United Kingdom in 1989. She met her British husband in the same year and they married in 1991 on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. They bought their home in Cornwall, England in 1996.{{Cite web |date=2019-07-02 |title=Best-selling author Liz Fenwick on her favourite things about Cornwall |url=https://www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/people/celebrity-interviews/22611464.best-selling-author-liz-fenwick-favourite-things-cornwall/ |access-date=2024-02-12 |website=Great British Life |language=en}} Thereafter followed ten international moves following her husband's career, to Canada, Russia, USA, Indonesia, and the UAE,{{Cite web |date=2012-08-02 |title='I turned my hobby into my job' |url=https://gulfnews.com/lifestyle/i-turned-my-hobby-into-my-job-1.1056715 |access-date=2024-02-12 |website=gulfnews.com |language=en}} before returning to their home in Cornwall. Whilst resident in the UAE Fenwick was invited by the Emirates Literature Foundation in 2015 to run their first Mentorship Programme{{Cite web |last=Magazine |first=UAE Style |date=2015-08-17 |title=Emirates Literature Foundation Opens Mentorship Program for Aspiring Women |url=https://www.uaestylemagazine.com/17/emirates-literature-foundation-opens-mentorship-program-for-aspiring-women-emirati-writers.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150817053043/http://www.uaestylemagazine.com/17/emirates-literature-foundation-opens-mentorship-program-for-aspiring-women-emirati-writers.html |url-status=usurped |archive-date=August 17, 2015 |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.uaestylemagazine.com |language=en-US}} competition for aspiring female Emirati writers, and to mentor the award winner through their novel writing process.{{Cite web |title=» Winner of First Emirates Literature Foundation Mentorship Programme Announced |url=https://www.elfdubai.org/en/winner-of-first-emirates-literature-foundation-mentorship-programme-announced |access-date=2024-01-24 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2016-03-02 |title=Discussing stories over a cup of tea |url=https://gulfnews.com/entertainment/books/discussing-stories-over-a-cup-of-tea-1.1682937 |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=gulfnews.com |language=en}}
Awards
In 2013 her second novel A Cornish Affair won the Romantic Readers Award from the Festival of Romantic Fiction,{{Cite web |date=2014-09-09 |title=Liz Fenwick & Sue Moorcroft shortlisted for Romantic Reader Awards |url=http://blakefriedmann.co.uk/news/fenwick-moorcroft-romantic-reader-awards |access-date=2024-01-22 |website=Blake Friedmann |language=en-GB}} and in 2014, A Cornish Stranger, was shortlisted for the same award.
In 2016, Under a Cornish Sky was shortlisted for the RNA Contemporary Romantic Novel of the Year Award.
In 2021, The River Between Us reached No. 1 in The Bookseller's Heatseekers chart,{{Cite web |date=2022-11-08 |title=Liz Fenwick |url=https://lbabooks.com/authors/liz-fenwick |access-date=2024-01-22 |website=LBA Books |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |date=2022-02-09 |title=BBC Radio Cornwall – Tiffany Truscott, 02/02/2022, Cornwall-based author Liz Fenwick talks awards, romantic novels, and her latest release 'The River Between Us' |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0bn75t1 |access-date=2024-01-23 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}} subsequently going on to win the RNA's annual Popular Romantic Fiction Award in 2022.{{Cite web |date=2022-03-16 |title=Liz Fenwick -The River Between Us – RNA |url=https://romanticnovelistsassociation.org/2022/03/liz-fenwick-the-river-between-us/ |access-date=2024-01-22 |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |title=RNA unveils award shortlists and announces prize for Fenwick |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/rna-unveils-award-shortlists-prize-fenwick-1302494 |access-date=2024-01-23 |website=The Bookseller |language=En}}{{Cite web |date=2022-03-07 |title=ROMANTIC NOVEL AWARDS 2022 WINNERS ANNOUNCED – RNA |url=https://romanticnovelistsassociation.org/news_article/romantic-novelists-association-romantic-novel-awards-2022-winners-announced/ |access-date=2024-01-23 |language=en-GB}}
In 2022, Fenwick hosted the Books Are My Bag Readers Awards Ceremony in London for the Booksellers Association.{{Cite web |title=Booksellers Association – Books Are My Bag Readers Awards 2022 winners announced |url=https://www.booksellers.org.uk/industryinfo/industryinfo/latestnews/Books-Are-My-Bag-Readers-Awards-2022-winners-annou |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=The Booksellers Association of the United Kingdom & Ireland Limited}}
In 2024, The Secret Shore was shortlisted for the RNA Historical Romantic Novel Award.{{Cite web |title=Sophia Money-Coutts, Cesca Major and Sarah Morgan tussle it out on RNA shortlist |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/sophia-money-coutts-cesca-major-and-sarah-morgan-tussle-it-out-on-rna-shortlist |access-date=2024-04-10 |website=The Bookseller |language=En}}{{Cite web |date=9 April 2024 |title=The Romantic Novelists’ Association Romantic Novel Awards 2024 Finalists Announced |url=https://romanticnovelistsassociation.org/news/the-romantic-novelists-association-romantic-novel-awards-2024-finalists-announced |website=The Romantic Novelists' Association}}
Publications
= Novels =
- The Cornish House (2012) – ISBN 978-1-4091-3748-1
- A Cornish Affair (2013) – ISBN 978-1-4091-3798-8 – winner of the Romantic Readers Award 2013
- A Cornish Stranger (2014) – ISBN 978-1-4091-4824-1- shortlisted for the Romantic Readers Award 2014
- Under a Cornish Sky (2016) – ISBN 978-1-4091-4828-9 – shortlisted for the RNA's Contemporary Romantic Novel of the Year 2016{{Cite web |title=Fern Britton to host RNA awards as shortlists are revealed |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/fern-britton-host-rna-awards-shortlist-revealed-322075 |access-date=2024-01-22 |website=The Bookseller |language=En}}
- The Returning Tide (2017) – ISBN 978-1-4091-6211-7
- One Cornish Summer (2018) – ISBN 978-1-4091-6215-5
- The Path to the Sea (2020) – ISBN 978-0-008-29053-5
- The River Between Us (2021) – ISBN 978-0-00-829057-3 – winner of the RNA Award for Popular Romantic Fiction in 2022
- The Secret Shore (2023) – ISBN 978-0-00-829061-0 - finalist for the RNA's Historical Romantic Novel Award
- The Secrets of Harbour House (2025) – ISBN 978-0-00-860874-3
= Novellas =
- A Cornish Christmas Carol (2016) – ISBN 978-1-4-0917-2680
- Delivering Christmas (2023) – ISBN 978-1-7384-1700-1
= Anthologies / Other =
- Afterward to the Macmillan Collector's Library Editions of Ross Poldark and Demelza, by Winston Graham (2016){{Cite web |title=Ross Poldark by Winston Graham |url=https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/winston-graham/ross-poldark/9780330463294 |access-date=2024-01-22 |website=www.panmacmillan.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Liz Fenwick on Ross Poldark's Cornwall |url=https://www.panmacmillan.com/blogs/fiction/ross-poldark-s-cornwall-by-liz-fenwick |access-date=2024-01-22 |website=www.panmacmillan.com |language=en}}
- Everyday Kindness (2021) – ISBN 978-1-9123-1000-5 an anthology of uplifting tales from 50 authors, with all proceeds donated to Shelter{{Cite web |last=Hall |first=Daniel |date=2021-11-13 |title=Northumberland author brings together North East writers for World Kindness Day |url=https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/lj-ross-world-kindness-day-22104659 |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=Chronicle Live |language=en}}
- 13 Cornish Ghost Stories (2024) - ISBN 978-1-73-986133-9 a collection of Cornish ghost stories written by 13 local authors including Fenwick{{Cite web |date=30 June 2024 |title=Cornwall based publisher of 13 Cornish Ghost Stories |url=https://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/24409217.cornwall-based-publisher-13-cornish-ghost-stories/ |website=The Falmouth Packet}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
[https://www.lizfenwick.com/ Official website]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fenwick, Liz}}
Category:Writers from Cornwall
Category:21st-century American novelists
Category:Mount Holyoke College alumni
Category:American women romantic fiction writers
Category:American fiction writers