Paul Torday

Paul Torday (/ˈtɔːrdeɪ/; 1 August 1946 – 18 December 2013)^[1] was a British writer and the author of the comic novel Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. The book was the winner of the 2007 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for comic writing^[2] and was serialised on BBC Radio 4. It won the Waverton Good Read Award in 2008. It was made into feature film in 2011, starring Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt.

Born in 1946 in Croxdale, County Durham,^[1] and educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle and Pembroke College, Oxford, Torday turned to fiction writing only later in life, and his first novel was published at the age of 59. Prior to that he was a successful businessman living in Northumberland. The inspiration for the novel stemmed from Torday's interest in both fly fishing and the Middle East. From these two strands, he weaves a political satire that centres on the world of political spin management.

His second novel, The Irresistible Inheritance of Wilberforce (titled Bordeaux in the United States), is about a man who drinks himself to death.^[1]

In 2008, he was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Galaxy British Book Awards.

Torday's third book The Girl on the Landing was published in 2009. This novel deals principally with themes of schizophrenia and racism.

His son Piers Torday is a children's writer.

Torday's novels include:^[3]

• (2006) Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
• (2008) The Irresistible Inheritance of Wilberforce
• (2009) The Girl on the Landing
• (2010) The Hopeless Life Of Charlie Summers
• (2011) More Than You Can Say
• (2012) The Legacy of Hartlepool Hall
• (2013) Light Shining in the Forest
• (2016) The Death Of An Owl

Paul Torday published his first novel Salmon Fishing in the Yemen aged 60. The family decided to set up this new prize in Torday's honour in 2019, celebrating first novels by authors aged 60 or over. This prize is administered by the Society of Authors.

2023

• Winner: Bonnie Garmus for Lessons In Chemistry (Doubleday)
• Runner-up: Julie Owen Moylan for That Green Eyed Girl (Penguin Random House)

Shortlisted:

• Reverned Richard Coles for Murder Before Evensong (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
• Tony Curtis for Darkness In The City Of light (Seren Books)
• Jonathan Franklin for Red Rose Green (Sparsile Books)

2022^[4]

• Winner: Jane Fraser for Advent (Honno Press)
• Runner-up: Michael Mallon for The Disciple (Zuleika)

Shortlisted:

• John Fletcher for Wuhan (Head of Zeus)
• Anthony English for Death of a Coast Watcher (Monsoon Books)
• Yvonne Bailey-Smith for The Day I Fell Off My Island (Myriad Editions)

2021

• Winner: Kathy O'Shaghnessey for In Love With George Elliot (Scribe UK)
• Runner-up: Karen Raney for All The Water In The World (John Murray Two Roads)

Shortlisted:

• Elfan Jones for Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
• Judith Amanthis for Dirt Clean
• Trevor Wood for The Man On The Street

2020

• Winner: Donald Murray for As the Woman Lay Dreaming (Saraband)
• Runner-up: Gaby Koppel for Reparation (Honno Press)

Shortlisted:

• Georgy Alagiah for The Burning Land (Canongate Books)
• Fiona Vigo Marshall for Find Me Falling (Fairlight Books)
• Rosalind Stopps for Hello, My Name is May (HQ, HarperCollins Publishing)
• Euan Cameron for Madeleine (MacLehose Press)

2019

• Winner: Anne Youngson for Meet Me at the Museum (Doubleday Ireland)
• Runner-up: Norma MacMaster for Silence Under A Stone (Doubleday)

Shortlisted:

• Su Bristow for Sealskin (Orenda Books)
• Sheila Llewllyn for Walking Wounded (Sceptre)
• Sally Magnusson for The Sealwoman's Gift (Two Roads)
• Heather Morris for The Tattooist of Auschwitz (Zaffre)

• Paul Torday at IMDb
• "Paul Torday". Orion Books. Archived from the original on 22 July 2024. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
• Kean, Danuta. "Interview - Danuta Kean fishes for the inspiration behind Paul Torday's debut novel – Salmon Fishing in the Yemen". Orion Books. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 3 November 2024.