Paul Bailey

1937–2024

English novelist and critic, born Peter Harry Bailey in Battersea, London. He trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and worked as an actor from 1956 to 1964, adopting the name Paul Bailey. His first novel, At the Jerusalem (1967), set in an old people’s home, won a Somerset Maugham Award, and Peter Smart’s Confessions was shortlisted for the 1977 Booker Prize. He also wrote memoir, biography and theatre criticism and taught creative writing at Kingston University. He died in October 2024. Gabriel’s Lament, about a son whose mother vanishes, was shortlisted for the 1986 Booker Prize.

Timeline of Paul Bailey’s life

Works

• Gabriel's Lament (1986)

Prizes

• Gabriel's Lament — The Booker Prize 1986: Shortlist