Manchester Celebrities
Authors, Novelists, Writers & Poets (5)

Howard Jacobson

(Born 1942)
Novelist and broadcaster Howard Jacobson was born in Manchester in 1942, and was educated at Cambridge. He worked as a lecturer at the University of Sydney for three years before returning to teach English at Selwyn College.
In the 1970s he went on to tech at the Wolverhampton Polytechnic, which provided the source material his first novel, "Coming From Behind" published in 1983. Others of his novels include the satirical comedy "Peeping Tom" (1984), "The Very Model of a Man" (1992), "No More Mister Nice Guy" (1998), and in 1999 "The Mighty Walzer" based on the Jewish community in Manchester during the 1950s. This book was awarded the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse and the 'Jewish Quarterly' Literary Prize for Fiction in 2000.
Next came, in 2002, "Who's Sorry Now", followed by "The Making of Henry" in 2004.
An 'Arena' television documentary on Howard Jacobson, entitled 'My Son the Novelist', was broadcast on BBC2 in 1985, and his work featured in an edition of ITV's 'South Bank Show', in 1999.
Jacobson explored his own Jewishness ins two non-fiction books: "Roots Schmoots: Journeys Among Jews" in 1993, and "Seriously Funny: From the Ridiculous to the Sublime" in 1997. He has also made two television programmes: in 2000, 'Howard Jacobson Takes on the Turner', on Channel 4, and in 2002, a 'South Bank Show' special entitled 'Why the Novel Matters'. He also authored of a travel book about Australia, "In the Land of Oz" in 1987. In 2006 he published "Kalooki Nights".

Anna Jacobs

Though Anna Jacobs now lives in Australia, she was born and bred in Rochdale, and now makes her living as a novelist writing books set in Lancashire - mainly historical sagas. She currently has 34 novels published and more in the pipeline, and her work is ranked regularly in the UK bestseller charts. Coming out in January 2006 is 'Pride of Lancashire', Book One in a series about the early days of the music hall in Lancashire, when there were music saloons attached to pubs.
A prolific writer, Anna writes novels under several names and uses the pen names Shannah Jay when writing science fiction and fantasy, and Sherry-Anne Jacobs when writing historical novels. Her recent romantic novels include 'Twopenny Rainbows', 'Marrying Miss Martha', and 'Our Mary Ann', all published in 2004.
With several recognised and authoritative books on the subject, she is now regarded as a major authority on the genre, and is much in demand to speak and lecture on this and related subjects, as well as having published books on the subject, including 'An Introduction to Romance Writing', and 'Plotting & Editing'.
Other works, including 'Calico Road', 'Wishing Well' and 'An Independent Woman', were all published in Australia in 2005, as well as ''Threepenny Dreams' - though most are now available in paperback in the UK and other Commonwealth countries.
A feature article about her life and work was recently published in 'Lancashire Life' magazine, and in April 2005 she was invited to talk about her work in Ellesmere Port Library.

More about Anna Jacobs and her work can be found on her website at www.annajacobs.com.