Claire Tomalin (born Claire Delavenay on 20 June 1933) is an English author and journalist, known for her biographies on Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Samuel Pepys, Jane Austen, and Mary Wollstonecraft. Read full biography of Claire Tomalin →
People who attack biography choose as their models vulgar and offensive biography. You could equally attack novels or poems by choosing bad poems or... →
'Philomena' was even better than I had expected. I was so pleased to see the evil Irish nuns thoroughly exposed, and I thought Judi Dench... →
Poetry was one of the things that interested me most as I was growing up. I used to write it in my head all the time. I still think the very greatest... →
Today's children have very short attention spans because they are being reared on dreadful television programmes which are flickering away in the... →
When I wrote about Mary Wollstonecraft, I found that here she was, in the late 18th century, going to work for the 'Analytical Review.' What... →
'Words and Music' on Radio 3 is always a treat. Actors read passages of poetry and prose interspersed with music, and nobody tells you what... →
Writers don't make good spouses. When I am writing, I'm not a good wife. I shut myself away, and all my emotions are directed towards what... →