Victoria Hislop
{{Short description|English author (born 1959)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}
{{Infobox writer
| image = Victoria Hislop in autograph session.jpg
| imagesize =
| name = Victoria Hislop
| caption = Hislop signing books in Greece, February 2008
| pseudonym =
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1959}}Greek Government Gazette B/2954/2020
| birth_place = Bromley, Kent, England
| alma_mater = St Hilda's College, Oxford
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = Novelist
| citizenship = {{flatlist|
}}
| spouse = {{marriage|Ian Hislop|1988}}
| children = 2; including William
| website = {{URL|http://www.victoriahislop.com}}
}}
Early life
Born in Bromley, Kent, she was raised in Tonbridge and attended Tonbridge Grammar School.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/kent/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8342000/8342680.stm |title=Victoria Hislop's Kent favourites |publisher=BBC Kent |access-date=21 November 2009 | date=4 November 2009}} She studied English at St Hilda's College, Oxford,{{cite news|title=Here come the girls...|url=http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/archive/2010/03/11/Books+(ot_books)/5055397.print/|publisher=Oxford Mail|date=11 March 2010}} and worked in publishing and as a journalist before becoming an author.{{cite news|last=Foster|first=Sophie|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/victoria-hislop-ian-different-league-oxford-he-charged-50p/|title=Victoria Hislop: 'Ian was in a different league to me at Oxford - he charged me 50p to borrow his essays'|work=The Sunday Telegraph|date=16 June 2019|access-date=18 June 2019}}
Career
Her novel The Island (2005) was a number-one bestseller in Britain, its success in part the result of having been selected by the Richard & Judy Book Club for their 2006 Summer Reads. To Nisi (The Island) was filmed as a TV series by the Greek TV channel MEGA.
In 2009, she donated the short story "Aflame in Athens" to Oxfam's "Ox-Tales" project, four collections of British stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the "Fire" collection.{{cite web|url=http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/content/books/books_oxtales.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318100114/http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/content/books/books_oxtales.html|title=Order your copy of Ox-Tales : Talking Books : Oxfam GB|archive-date=18 March 2012}} Hislop has a particular affection for Greece. She visits the country often for research and other reasons, and has a second home on the island of Crete.
Hislop The tragedy of my beloved Greece [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greece/9277152/Victoria-Hislop-the-tragedy-of-my-beloved-Greece.html], Sunday Telegraph, 20 May 2012
Personal life
Victoria married Private Eye editor Ian Hislop on 16 April 1988 in Oxford; the couple have two children: Emily Helen (born 1990) and William David (born 1993).{{cite web|url=http://www.findmypast.com/BirthsMarriagesDeaths.jsp|title=Marriages and Births England and Wales 1984–2006}}
Hislop lived in London for more than twenty years, but now lives in Sissinghurst, Kent.
In 2020, Hislop was granted honorary Greek citizenship for promoting modern Greek history and culture.{{cite web|url=https://www.ekathimerini.com/254947/article/ekathimerini/life/greece-gives-novelist-victoria-hislop-honorary-greek-citizenship |title=Greece gives novelist Victoria Hislop honorary Greek citizenship |website= ekathimerini.com |date=21 July 2020 }} The following year she was a contestant on Dancing with the Stars, the Greek version of Strictly Come Dancing.{{cite news|last=Rose|first=Hilary|url=https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/article/victoria-hislop-strictly-dancing-with-the-stars-greece-6kqvs2hn5|title=Victoria Hislop on doing Strictly (the Greek one): My partner is beautiful — I can't stop looking at him|work=The Times|date=11 October 2021|access-date=11 October 2021|url-access=subscription}}
Bibliography
=Novels=
- The Island (2005)
- The Return (2008)
- The Thread (2011)
- The Sunrise (2014)
- Cartes Postales from Greece (2016)
- Those Who Are Loved (2019)
- One August Night (2020)
- Maria's Island (2021)
- The Figurine (2023)
=Short stories=
- One Cretan Evening and Other Stories (2011)
- "One Cretan Evening" (2008)
- "The Pine Tree" (2008)
- "By The Fire" (2009)
- "The Warmest Christmas Ever" (2007)
- "Aflame in Athens" (2009)
- The Last Dance and Other Stories (2012; ten stories)
=Non-fiction=
- Sink or Swim: The Self-help Book for Men Who Never Read Them (2002) (with Duncan Goodhew)
- Fix Your Life – Now!: The Six Step Plan to Help You Fix Your Life (2012) (with Duncan Goodhew)
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [http://www.victoriahislop.com Official website]
{{Authority control}}
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Category:Alumni of St Hilda's College, Oxford
Category:English short story writers
Category:English women novelists
Category:English women short story writers
Category:People educated at Tonbridge Grammar School