Victoria Hislop
Victoria Hislop | |
|---|---|
Victoria Hislop in 2008 | |
| Born | Victoria Hamson June 17, 1959[1][2] |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Citizenship | |
| Education | Tonbridge Grammar School |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford (MA) |
| Notable works | |
| Spouse | [1] |
| Children | 2; including Will Hislop |
| Website | |
| www | |
Victoria Hislop FRSL (née Hamson; born 18 June 1959)[1] is an English author.[4]
Early life and education
Born in Bromley, Kent, Hislop was raised in Tonbridge and educated at Tonbridge Grammar School, a state funded grammar school.[5] She studied English at the University of Oxford where she was an undergraduate student at St Hilda's College, Oxford.[1][6]
Career
Hislop worked in publishing and as a journalist before becoming an author.[7] Her novel The Island[3] was a number-one bestseller in Britain, its success in part the result of having been selected by the Richard & Judy Book Club for their 2006 Summer Reads. To Nisi (The Island) was filmed as a television show by the Mega Channel in Greece.
In 2009, she donated the short story "Aflame in Athens" to Oxfam's Ox-Tales project, four collections of British stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the "Fire" collection.[8] Hislop has a particular affection for Greece. She visits the country often and has a second home on the island of Crete.[9]
Novels
- The Island[3]
- The Return (2008)
- The Thread (2011)
- The Sunrise (2014)
- Cartes Postales from Greece (2016)
- Those Who Are Loved (2019)
- One August Night (2020)
- Maria's Island (2021)
- The Figurine (2023)
Short stories
- One Cretan Evening and Other Stories (2011)
- "One Cretan Evening" (2008)
- "The Pine Tree" (2008)
- "By The Fire" (2009)
- "The Warmest Christmas Ever" (2007)
- "Aflame in Athens" (2009)
- The Last Dance and Other Stories (2012; ten stories)
Non-fiction
- Sink or Swim: The Self-help Book for Men Who Never Read Them (2002) (with Duncan Goodhew)
- Fix Your Life – Now!: The Six Step Plan to Help You Fix Your Life (2012) (with Duncan Goodhew)
Awards and honours
Hislop was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL) in 2024.[1][10]
Hislop holds an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Sheffield, serves on the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles with the Acropolis of Athens and was appointed Vice-President of the British School at Athens.[10]
Personal life
Victoria married Private Eye editor Ian Hislop on 16 April 1988 in Oxford;[1] the couple have two children: Emily Helen (born 1990) and Will Hislop (born 1993).[1]
Hislop lived in London for more than twenty years, prior to setting up home in Sissinghurst,[5] Kent. In 2012, the family acquired a townhouse in Chelsea.[11]
In 2020, Hislop was granted honorary Greek citizenship for promoting the modern history of Greece and culture of Greece.[12] The following year she was a contestant on Dancing with the Stars, the Greek version of Strictly Come Dancing.[13]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Anon (2026). "Hislop, Victoria". Who's Who (177th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 2720. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U258488. ISBN 9781399411837. OCLC 1427336388. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Greek Government Gazette B/2954/2020
- ^ a b c Hislop, Victoria (2005). The Island. London: Headline Review. ISBN 9780755309511. OCLC 694516206.
- ^ Philby, Charlotte (2009). "My Secret Life". independent.co.uk. London: The Independent. Archived from the original on 17 August 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2009.
- ^ a b Pattison, Jo (4 November 2009). "Victoria Hislop's Kent favourites". bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 21 November 2009.
- ^ "Here come the girls..." oxfordmail.co,uk. Oxford Mail. 11 March 2010.
- ^ Foster, Sophie (16 June 2019). "Victoria Hislop: 'Ian was in a different league to me at Oxford - he charged me 50p to borrow his essays'". telegraph.co.uk. The Sunday Telegraph. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
- ^ "Order your copy of Ox-Tales : Talking Books : Oxfam GB". oxfam.org.uk. Archived from the original on 18 March 2012.
- ^ Hislop, Victoria (20 May 2012). "The tragedy of my beloved Greece". telegraph.co.uk. Sunday Telegraph.
- ^ a b Anon (2024). "Hislop, Victoria". rsliterature.org. London: Royal Society of Literature. Retrieved 4 July 2025.
- ^ Dobson, Ruth Bloomfield, Miranda (6 June 2012). "Have we got mews for you: Planners reject Ian Hislop's bid to extend". standard.co.uk. London: Evening Standard. Retrieved 25 September 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Greece gives novelist Victoria Hislop honorary Greek citizenship". ekathimerini.com. Kathimerini. 21 July 2020.
- ^ Rose, Hilary (11 October 2021). "Victoria Hislop on doing Strictly (the Greek one): My partner is beautiful — I can't stop looking at him". thetimes.com. The Times. Retrieved 11 October 2021.