Dudgeon, Piers 1949-

PERSONAL:

Born 1949.

ADDRESSES:

Home—North York Moors, England. Agent—Anthony Sheil, Gillon Aitken Associates, 18-21 Cavaye Pl., London SW10 9PT, England.

CAREER:

Writer, editor, photographer, and publisher. Worked as a publisher in London, England, before starting his own publishing company.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

(Editor) The Woodwork Book, introduced by John Makepeace, illustrations by Rob Shone and others, Pan (London, England), 1980.

(Editor, with consultant editor Ashley Stephenson) The Garden Planner, Fontana (London, England), 1981.

(Editor) The Art of Making Furniture, introduced by John Makepeace, illustrations by Rob Shone and others, photography by Rob Shone, Sterling (New York, NY), 1981.

(Editor) Daphne du Maurier, Enchanted Cornwall: Her Pictorial Memoir, photography by Nick Wright, Viking Penguin (New York, NY), 1989.

(Editor, with Jonathan Jones) Dear Boy: Lord Chesterfield's Letters to His Son, introduced by Catherine Cookson, Bantam (London, England), 1989.

(Editor) Village Voices: A Portrait of Change in England's Green and Pleasant Land, 1915-1990: A 75th Anniversary Celebration of Rural Britain by the W.I.: Britain's Foremost Women's Movement, Sidgwick & Jackson (London, England), 1989.

(Author of text) The English Vicarage Garden: Thirty Gardens of Beauty and Inspiration, introduced by Miss Read, Mermaid (London, England), 1991.

(Editor and photographer) The Country Child, introduced by Catherine Cookson, Headline (London, England), 1992.

(Researcher and compiler) The Spirit of Britain: An Illustrated Guide to Literary Britain, edited and introduced by Susan Hill, Headline (London, England), 1994.

The Girl from Leam Lane: The Life and Writing of Catherine Cookson, Headline (London, England), 1997.

Breaking Out of the Box: The Biography of Edward de Bono, Headline (London, England), 2001.

(With Josephine Cox) Josephine Cox, Child of the North, Headline (London, England), 2001, revised and updated edition published as Child of the North: Memories of a Northern Childhood, HarperCollins (London, England), 2006.

The Virgin Guide to Courses for Careers, Virgin Books (London, England), 2002.

Lifting the Veil: The Biography of Sir John Tavener, Portrait (London, England), 2003.

Kate's Daughter: The Real Catherine Cookson, Bantam (London, England), 2003.

The Woman of Substance: The Life and Works of Barbara Taylor Bradford, HarperCollins (London, England), 2005, published as The Woman of Substance: The Secret Life That Inspired the Renowned Storyteller Barbara Taylor Bradford, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to British periodicals, including the Observer, Daily Telegraph, and the Mail on Sunday.

SIDELIGHTS:

Piers Dudgeon is the author and editor of numerous works of nonfiction, including several biographies. The Girl from Leam Lane: The Life and Writing of Catherine Cookson, Dudgeon's biography of the British author of more than ninety novels, is based on Cookson's own memoir, extensive interviews with the late author, and previously unpublished works by Cookson. A California Bookwatch contributor noted that the biography focuses on both the author's "life and psyche."

Dudgeon examines the life of another prolific British author in his book The Woman of Substance: The Life and Works of Barbara Taylor Bradford, published in the United States as The Woman of Substance: The Secret Life That Inspired the Renowned Storyteller Barbara Taylor Bradford. A publishing phenomenon, Bradford is among the top-selling—and richest—novelists in the world with more than seventy-five million copies of her novels having been sold in numerous countries. Dudgeon traces Bradford's life from her birth in Armley, Yorkshire, England, and speculates about true-life parallels to her fictional works. A Publishers Weekly contributor referred to The Woman of Substance, which is named after one of Bradford's best-selling books, as "reverent and often rhapsodic." A Kirkus Reviews contributor commented that the book is "aimed, of course, at fans, who will love it."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

California Bookwatch, December, 2006, review of The Girl from Leam Lane: The Life and Writing of Catherine Cookson.

Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2006, review of The Woman of Substance: The Secret Life That Inspired the Renowned Storyteller Barbara Taylor Bradford, p. 936.

Library Journal, November 15, 2006, Kathryn R. Bartelt, review of The Woman of Substance, p. 72.

New York Times Book Review, November 12, 2006, Sophie Harrison, review of The Woman of Substance, p. 61.

Publishers Weekly, September 25, 2006, review of The Woman of Substance, p. 61.

Yorkshire Evening Post (Yorkshire, England), February 9, 2005, "Revealed—The Truth behind a Best Seller," discusses author's book The Woman of Substance.