Carole Seymour-Jones

Carole Seymour-Jones was born in North Wales.

Educated at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, and Sussex University, she became the acclaimed biographer of Beatrice Webb, Simone de Beauvoir and Vivienne Eliot, while her most recent book examined the life of Anglo-French SOE agent Pearl Witherington. She cited fellow biographers Richard Holmes and Hermione Lee, plus historian Antony Beevor, among her influences . A teacher of creative non-fiction, memoir and biography, Carole was a Visiting Fellow at the University of Surrey, a regular broadcaster, and judge of the Biographers’ Club Tony Lothian Prize.

Her biography 'Painted Shadow: The Life of Vivienne Eliot' was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize. She was the chair of the Writers in Prison Committee of English PEN, and co-editor of 'Another Sky: Voices of Conscience from Around the World', a collection of pieces by writers imprisoned for expressing their views.