Christopher Hope

1944–

South African novelist and poet whose work satirises racism and politics in South Africa. Born in Johannesburg, he studied at the universities of the Witwatersrand and Natal and served in the South African Navy. After his poetry was suppressed by South African censors, he moved to London in 1975. His first novel, A Separate Development, won the David Higham Memorial Prize, and Kruger’s Alp won the Whitbread Prize. Later books include The Hottentot Room, Darkest England, My Mother’s Lovers and Jim Fish, and he founded the Franschhoek Literary Festival in 2006. Serenity House was shortlisted for the 1992 Booker Prize.

Timeline of Christopher Hope’s life

Works

• Serenity House (1992)

Prizes

• Serenity House — The Booker Prize 1992: Shortlist