{{short description|British author (born 1947)}} {{Use British English|date=August 2011}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Infobox person |name= Reina James |birth_date={{Birth date and age|df=yes|1947|4|26}} |occupation=Actress, singer and author |parents=Sid James<br>Meg Williams |children=1 |spouse={{marriage|Mike Reinstein|1991}} }}
'''Reina James''' (born 1947) is a British author, singer and actress.
She has written two novels, the first of which won the Society of Authors' McKitterick Prize in 2007.
==Early life== James was born in 1947, shortly after her parents moved to the UK from South Africa. Her father was the actor Sid James. During her teenage years she played in a folk group before marrying and starting a family.<ref name="JC">{{Cite web|url=http://www.thejc.com/arts/arts-interviews/interview-reina-james|title=Interview: Reina James|first=Gerald|last=Jacobs|work=The Jewish Chronicle|date=29 April 2009|accessdate=20 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161125044219/http://www.thejc.com/arts/arts-interviews/interview-reina-james|archive-date=2016-11-25}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/apr/11/reina-james-author-family|title=The marriage itself is a blank|work=The Guardian|date=11 April 2009|accessdate=20 April 2011|first=Reina|last=James}}</ref> In her late 20s she appeared in the stage play ''John, Paul, George, Ringo ... and Bert'' by Willy Russell, and later appeared in Russell's musical ''Blood Brothers''.<ref name="JC" />
==Writing career== Having worked since the 1980s as an astrological counsellor,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/jun/28/fiction.lindagrant|title=Deathly Prose|first=Linda|last=Grant|date=28 June 2007|accessdate=20 April 2011|work=The Guardian}}</ref> James published her first novel, ''This Time of Dying'' in 2007, which won the Society of Authors' McKitterick Prize, awarded for the best first novel by a writer over the age of 40.<ref name="JC" /> Her second novel, ''The Old Joke'', was published in 2009.<ref name="JC" />
==Family== James has been married to her second husband Mike Reinstein, a musician, since 1991. She has one son, Jonathan, and one grandchild (through her first marriage).<ref name="JC" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Reina}} Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century English women writers Category:21st-century British novelists Category:Jewish English writers Category:21st-century English writers