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ABOUT

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ABOUT

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Winston Graham was one of the most successful and prolific novelists of the twentieth century. Born on 30th June, 1908 in Victoria Park, Manchester, England, he started writing as a child and apart from coastguard duty during the war he was a full-time writer all his life.


Winston’s first published novel, House with the Stained Glass Windows, came out in 1934; his last, Bella Poldark, was published in 2002. Just before he died he completed an autobiography, Memoirs of a Private Man which was published posthumously by Pan Macmillan in 2003. He was Chairman of the Society of Authors and fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In 1962 he was honoured with an OBE.

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Much of Winston Graham’s early life was in Cornwall, which he and his wife Jean avidly explored as a young couple and grew to know, and to respect and to love deeply. Indeed, it was Cornwall’s wild landscapes, majestic cliffs, long sandy surf beaten beaches and history of mining that inspired many of Winston’s novels especially the well-known Poldark saga. These, in turn enthralled his many readers then and now.

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An illustration of this love is especially seen in Poldark’s Cornwall a semi-autobiographical book of Cornwall originally published in 1983 and reissued in 2015 by Pan Macmillan with many new photographs and an introduction by his son Andrew. It is a glorious evocation of the land of beauty, excitement, romance and imagination that Winston Graham knew and loved so well.  Indeed, according to Andrew it tells us as much, if not much more, about Winston Graham the man as did the official autobiography.

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To know more about Winston Graham, as a writer, about his legacy of historical and contemporary novels, many other works, and his prize for fiction, this website lists all his books and engages with his contributions to stage, cinema, opera and television under the following headings.

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LIFE & TIMES– Winston the man and family life

POLDARK – how they were written and details of the two highly successful TV series

OTHER WRITING – Winston as a writer in many genres

FILMS & TV – other than Poldark

FICTION PRIZE – The Winston Graham Prize for Historical Fiction re-launched in 2024

BOOKS LIST – By date of  publication, First UK Editions

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