Ronan Bennett
Ronan Bennett | |
---|---|
Born | Belfast, Northern Ireland | 14 January 1956
Education | St Mary's Christian Brothers' Grammar School, Belfast |
Alma mater | King's College London |
Occupation(s) | Novelist and screenwriter |
Spouse | Georgina Henry |
Children | 2 (including Finn Bennett) |
Ronan Bennett (born 14 January 1956) is a Northern Irish novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for his work as showrunner, writer and executive producer of the drug and gang-related crime drama television series Top Boy. His other writing credits include the 1997 crime film Face, the 2009 Michael Mann crime biopic Public Enemies and the 2017 BBC historical drama miniseries Gunpowder.
Born in
Background
Bennett, the son of William H. and Geraldine Bennett, was born in Belfast but was raised in
Long Kesh remand
In 1974, when he was 19, Bennett was convicted by a no-jury
"Persons Unknown" trial and Wapping Autonomy Centre
Bennett had been writing in prison to Iris Mills in Huddersfield,
Later education and life
Bennett studied history at King's College London, receiving a first-class honours degree. He later completed, in 1987, a doctorate on crime and law enforcement in 17th-century England,[14] material he used in Havoc, in its Third Year.[1][a] That same year he was hired as a researcher by Jeremy Corbyn MP, later Leader of the Labour Party, in a move that provoked controversy and security concerns.[15]
Bennett lives in London with his family. His partner since his time at King's College and wife since 2003 was
Since 2006 Bennett has co-hosted a regular Monday chess column with
Work
Bennett has published five novels and two non-fiction works. It was his third novel, The Catastrophist, that brought him into the public eye. This novel was set in the
In 1990, Bennett was co-author of Stolen Years: before and after Guildford, He contributes regularly to the British and Irish press.
In 2006, Bennett's novel Zugzwang, was published week-by-week in the British Sunday newspaper The Observer. The novel was written in weekly instalments with new chapters being submitted to the newspaper close to publication date. Each chapter was accompanied by illustrations by British artist Marc Quinn.
Politics
Bennett is a Labour Party member.[24] In November 2019, he endorsed the Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in the 2019 UK general election.[25] In December 2019, Bennett wrote in The Guardian: "The Corbyn I know is a rare thing – warm, decent and interested in justice", and "The Jeremy Corbyn I met 35 years ago was all about solidarity. He was the ordinary one who has grown as a leader despite everything that has been thrown at him. He is asking us to join in building a society full of decency and love. Those two words alone do it for me."[26] In the same month, along with 42 other leading cultural figures, Bennett signed a letter endorsing the Labour Party under Corbyn's leadership in the 2019 general election. The letter stated that "Labour's election manifesto under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership offers a transformative plan that prioritises the needs of people and the planet over private profit and the vested interests of a few."[27][28]
Bibliography
Fiction
- The Second Prison (1991) – shortlisted for the 1991 Irish Times/Aer Lingus prize.
- Overthrown by Strangers (1992)
- The Catastrophist (1998) – shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel Award.
- Havoc, in Its Third Year (2004) – winner of the Hughes & Hughes/Sunday Independent Irish Novel of the Year award.
- Zugzwang (2006)
Non-fiction
- Stolen Years: Before and After Guildford (with Paul Hill, 1990)
- Fire and Rain (broadcast on Radio 4, 1994)
- Life and Death in Long Kesh – Ronan Bennett's memoir and film review of Hunger, The Guardian (October 2008)
Feature films
- A Further Gesture, aka The Break (1997)
- Lucky Break (2001)
- Face (1997)
- The Hamburg Cell (2004)
- Public Enemies (2009)
Television
- Love Lies Bleeding (1993)
- A Man You Don't Meet Every Day (1994)
- Rebel Heart (2001)
- Fields of Gold (2002)
- Hidden (2011)
- Top Boy (2011, 2019)
- Gunpowder (2017)
Short films
- Do Armed Robbers Have Love Affairs? (2002)
See also
- List of Northern Irish writers
Notes
References
- ^ a b c Laity, Paul (27 October 2007). "The Controversialist". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
- ^ a b c Bennett, Ronan (3 December 2000). "Why this witch-hunt won't stop me writing on Ireland". The Observer. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ a b "Ronan Bennett: From Prisoner to Writer". NPR. 3 July 2007. Retrieved 16 October 2011.
- ^ a b c d Meltzer, Albert (1996), I Couldn't Paint Golden Angels - Chapter XIX, sections - Affinity Groups, Persons Unknown
- ISBN 9781873176931. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ISBN 9780710093080. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ISBN 9780473122997. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ISBN 9780906133293. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ Persons Unknown. Persons Unknown. 1979. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ISBN 9781107176898. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ISBN 9783319459585. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ISBN 9781604862331. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ Meltzer, Albert (1996), I Couldn't Paint Golden Angels - Chapter XXI, section - International Centres
- ^ Bennett, Ronan. "Enforcing the law in revolutionary England: Yorkshire, c.1640-c.1660". British Library EThOS. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
- ^ McDermott, Josephine (15 September 2015). "Jeremy Corbyn and Islington". BBC News.
- ^ Josh Halliday "Georgina Henry Named Head of guardian.co.uk", guardian.co.uk, 25 July 2011
- ^ Rusbridger, Alan (7 February 2014), Obituary: Georgina Henry, The Guardian.
- ^ Berkeley, Michael. "Private Passions - Ronan Bennett - BBC Sounds". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ Bennett, Ronan; King, Daniel. "Ronan Bennett and Daniel King on chess - Sport - The Guardian". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ "Nigel Short terminated – again". Chess News. 26 October 2006.
- ISBN 9780385401258. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
stolen years paul hill.
- ^ Bennett, Ronan (24 June 1993). "Criminal Justice" (London Review of Books - Vol. 15 No. 12). London Review of Books. 15 (12): 3–15. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ Johnston, Philip (1 December 2000). "Republican writes BBC's Irish drama". The Telegraph. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- ^ Bennett, Ronan (31 August 2019). "Ronan Bennett: 'Top Boy was special to me... I poured it all into the scripts'". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
- ^ Dawson, Brit (25 November 2019). "Jeremy Corbyn, Lily Allen, and M.I.A. launch Labour's Arts for All policy". Dazed. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
- ^ Bennett, Ronan (1 December 2019). "The Corbyn I know is a rare thing – warm, decent and interested in justice". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
- ^ "Vote for hope and a decent future". The Guardian. 3 December 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
- ^ Proctor, Kate (3 December 2019). "Coogan and Klein lead cultural figures backing Corbyn and Labour". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 December 2019.