Miranda Seymour

Miranda Jane Seymour (born 8 August 1948) is an English literary critic, novelist, and biographer known for her works on figures such as Robert Graves, Mary Shelley, and Jean Rhys. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts but resigned from the Royal Society of Literature in December 2023. Seymour grew up in Thrumpton Hall, her family’s ancestral home, and detailed her unconventional upbringing in her 2008 memoir *In My Father's House: Elegy for an Obsessive Love*, which won the 2008 Pen Ackerley Prize. She studied at Bedford College, London (now part of Royal Holloway, University of London), earning a BA in English in 1981. Seymour began her literary career in 1975 with the historical novel *The Stones of Maggiare*, followed by several others focused on Italy and Greece. She转向biography in 1982 with works like *A Ring of Conspirators* about Henry James, later writing biographies of Lady Ottoline Morrell, Mary Shelley, and Robert Graves, among others. Her research on Hellé Nice, a forgotten French Grand Prix driver, led to the acclaimed *The Bugatti Queen* (2004), which inspired an exhibition at the Mac Museum in Germany. She also wrote *Chaplin's Girl: The Lives and Loves of Virginia Cherrill* (2009) and contributed to non-fiction works like *A Brief History of Thyme* (2002). Seymour has written extensively for literary journals, including *The Times Literary Supplement*, *The New York Review of Books*, and others. She has held academic roles, including Visiting Professor at the University of Nottingham Trent, and is currently a ...