Sir Arnold Wesker FRSL, Hon. Litt.D.
playwright
and author
Arnold
Wesker was born on 24 May 1932, in Stepney in the East End of London and went
to school in Hackney.
Today,
Sir Arnold Wesker is considered one of the key figures in 20th Century drama.
He is the author of 44 plays, 4 volumes of short stories, 2 volumes of essays,
an autobiography, a book on journalism, a children's book, extensive
journalism, poetry and other assorted writings including scripts for TV, radio
and film. His plays have been translated into 18 languages, and performed worldwide.
He has directed his plays in Havana, Stockholm, Munich, Aarhus, London, Oslo,
Madison & Denison universities (U.S) and Rome.
His plays include The Kitchen (1957), The Wesker Trilogy (1958/60), comprising: Chicken Soup with Barley, Roots, I'm Talking about Jerusalem. Chips with Everything (1962), The Four Seasons, Love Letters on Blue Paper (1965), Shylock (1976). Annie Wobbler (1982), When God Wanted a Son (1986), Caritas (1988) Circles of Perception (1996), Denial (1997), Groupie (2001), Longitude (2002). His non-fiction includes As Much as I Dare, his autobiography. Wesker's Love Plays, Wesker's Monologues and the playwright's first poetry collection, All Things Tire of Themselves, have all been published recently.
Arnold
Wesker was Chairman of the British Centre of the International Theatre
Institute between 1978 and 1982 and President of the International Playwright's
Committee between 1979 and 1983. In 1989 Arnold Wesker received his first
Honorary Degree (D.Litt.) from the University of East Anglia. His second from
Queen Mary and Westfield College, London, was awarded in March 1995. A third -
Doctor of Humane Letters - was awarded from Denison University, Ohio, May 1997.
Arnold Wesker is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In 1999 Edward Albee
presented him with the 'Last Frontier Lifetime Achievement Award' and in 2006
he was knighted ‘for services to drama’; 2008 celebrated his 50th year as a
playwright.
Sir Arnold lives six months of the year in his Welsh cottage in the Black Mountains where he does most of his work, after which he joins his wife Lady Dusty Wesker, in her house in Hove for the winter months.
