{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}} {{Use British English|date=October 2017}} {{Short description|English author, editor, professor, and poet (born 1971)}} {{Infobox writer | name = Matthew Hollis | image = | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1971}} | birth_place = Norwich, England | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = {{Hlist|Author|editor|professor|poet}} | parents = Patricia Hollis and Martin Hollis | spouse = | alma_mater = University of Edinburgh; University of York | children = | movement = | notable_works = ''Now All Roads Lead to France'' (2011) | website = |}} '''Matthew Hollis''' (born 1971) is an English author, editor, professor, and poet, currently living in London, England.<ref name="council" />
==Career and background== [[File:Edward Thomas.jpg|thumb|right|150px|The late Edward Thomas, for whom Hollis has been a biographer and editor, and received inspiration from]]
He was born in Norwich, England, the son of politician Patricia Hollis and academic Martin Hollis.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://textualities.net/benjamin-morris/matthew-hollis-interview/ |website=Textualities |title=Matthew Hollis interview|first=Benjamin |last=Morris|date=2005|access-date= 2 November 2012}}</ref> He has studied at the universities of Edinburgh and York. He presently lives in London, England, writing as well as serving as a tutor for the London Poetry School. He joined Faber and Faber in 2002, helping devise the Faber New Poets series. He became the publisher's poetry editor in 2012 and retired from the role in 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Woodall |first=Tim |date=2023-06-13 |title=Poetry Editor Announcement {{!}} Journal, News |url=https://www.faber.co.uk/journal/poetry-editor-announcement/ |access-date=2024-09-17 |website=Faber |language=en-US}}</ref> He is a member of the international educational and cultural enhancement organisation the British Council, taking part in the Arts Council's "First Lines" programme in 2001.<ref name=council/>
Hollis has published a variety of written works. After its shortlisting for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, his first full-length collection ''Ground Water'' (Bloodaxe Books, 2004) was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award (the first time for a poetry book) and for the Whitbread Poetry Award; ''Ground Water'' was also a Poetry Book Society Recommendation.
Hollis is perhaps best known for the 2011 non-fiction book ''Now All Roads Lead to France'', a critically acclaimed (praise appearing in ''The Guardian'',<ref name=guar>{{cite news|first=Robert |last=Macfarlane |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/aug/05/roads-lead-france-thomas-review |title=Now All Roads Lead to France by Matthew Hollis – review |work=The Guardian |date=2011-08-05 |access-date=2012-10-31}}</ref> ''The Independent'',<ref name=indep>{{cite news|first=Sean |last=O'Brien |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/now-all-roads-lead-to-france-the-last-years-of-edward-thomas-by-matthew-hollisbr-selected-poems-by-edward-thomas-edited-by-matthew-hollis-2327571.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220512/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/now-all-roads-lead-to-france-the-last-years-of-edward-thomas-by-matthew-hollisbr-selected-poems-by-edward-thomas-edited-by-matthew-hollis-2327571.html |archive-date=12 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Now All Roads Lead to France: The Last Years of Edward Thomas |work=The Independent |date=2011-07-29 |accessdate=2012-10-31}}</ref> ''The Wall Street Journal'',<ref>{{cite news|last=Massie |first=Allan |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390444734804578062722426852506 |title=Book Review: Now All Roads Lead to France |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=2012-10-26 |accessdate=2012-10-31}}</ref> and others) biography of seminal English poet Edward Thomas. The work won the 2011 H. W. Fisher Best First Biography Prize, as well as the 2011 Costa Book Award for "Best Biography".<ref name=council>{{cite web |url=https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/matthew-hollis |title=Matthew Hollis |publisher=British Council |website=British Council Literature |accessdate=2016-01-17}}</ref> The judges for the latter commented: "Dramatic and engrossing. A brilliant biography that moved us all."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/gallery/2012/jan/04/costa-book-award-winners-2011-in-pictures#/?picture=383982929&index=3 |title=Costa book awards winners 2011 – in pictures |work=The Guardian |date=2012-01-04 |access-date=2012-10-31}}</ref>
Hollis's most recent work is ''Waste Land: A Biography of a Poem'', published on 13 October 2022 by Faber and Faber,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571297214-the-waste-land/ | title=The Waste Land: A Biography of a Poem | publisher=Faber and Faber | date=2022-10-13 |access-date=2022-10-07}}</ref> which was made book of the year by the ''Sunday Times'', the ''New Statesman'' and the ''Financial Times''.<ref>According to the sleeve notes of the UK paperpack edition.</ref>
==See also== {{portal|Biography}} *''Now All Roads Lead to France'' *Patricia Hollis, Baroness Hollis of Heigham *List of poets
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== *[https://www.theguardian.com/books/video/2012/mar/01/edward-thomas-matthew-hollis-video Matthew Hollis reads from ''Now All Roads Lead to France'' - video], theguardian.com, 1 March 2012.
*{{British council|id=matthew-hollis|name= Matthew Hollis}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hollis, Matthew}} Category:1971 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Category:Alumni of the University of York Category:English male poets Category:Writers from Norwich
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