Justin Hill (writer)

Justin Hill (writer)
Justin Hill (born 31 May 1971) is an English novelist.
Biography
Justin Hill was born in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island in 1971, and he grew up in Yorkshire, England. He was educated at St Peter's School, an independent school in York.
As a member of St Cuthbert's Society, Durham University, he studied English Language and Medieval Literature. After leaving university in 1992, he worked with the VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) for seven years in rural China and Eritrea. He has a MA from Lancaster University, and was awarded a PhD by Goldsmiths College, University of London in 2019. His doctoral thesis was titled "Viking Fire: a practical and theoretical exploration of the historical novel".
He reviews regularly for The Times Literary Supplement and the South China Morning Post. Between 2009 and 2015 he ran the undergraduate Creative Writing course at the City University of Hong Kong. His work has been translated into seventeen languages and banned in China.
Career
Hill's debut novel, The Drink and Dream Teahouse, written when he was a student, received a record breaking advance for an unfinished novel. It won several major awards, including the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and the Betty Trask Prize, as well as being a 2001 Washington Post Book of the Year. He has since won the Somerset Maugham Award and been shortlisted for the Encore Award. Shieldwall, the first of his Conquest Series was a Sunday Times Book of the Year. Viking Fire, was a Times Book of the Year.
The British Council describes Hill as 'a novelist and travel writer with a growing international reputation, whose writing has been mostly associated with the people, culture and history of China.'. It also said that Hill 'has already shown his mastery of the historical novel. He is able to re-create ancient eras beautifully, and fully engage our sympathies for the lives and loves of his characters.'
His first novel, The Drink and Dream Teahouse, is a commentary on contemporary China.
Passing Under Heaven, reimagines the life of female poet Yu Xuanji.
Ciao Asmara recounts the history and present of Eritrea.
Shieldwall is the first in the Conquest Trilogy, which chronicles the events surrounding the Battle of Hastings, in 1066.
Viking Fire is the second of the Conquest Trilogy which tells the life of Harald Hardrada.
In summer 2014 Hill was commissioned to write the novelisation of the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II: The Green Legend. It was published in February 2016 by Weinstein Books.
Awards and honours
2001 Washington Post Notable Book, The Drink and Dream Teahouse
2002 Betty Trask Award, winner, The Drink and Dream Teahouse
2003 Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, winner, The Drink and Dream Teahouse
2003 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award shortlist, Ciao Asmara
2005 Somerset Maugham Award, winner, Passing Under Heaven
2005 A Sunday Telegraph Book of the Year, Passing Under Heaven
2005 An Independent on Sunday Book of the Year, Passing Under Heaven
2005 Encore Award shortlist, Passing Under Heaven
2005 Xiaoxiang Friendship Award from the Governor of Hunan
2012 A Sunday Times Book of the Year, Shieldwall
2016 A Times Book of the Year, Viking Fire
2021 Shortlisted, Hislibris Historical Literature Awards, Best Historical Novel translated into Spanish, Shieldwall (Muro de escudos, translated by Pedro Santamaría Ediciones Pàmies
Bibliography
A Bend in the Yellow River (1997)
The Drink and Dream Teahouse (2001)
Ciao Asmara (2002)
Passing Under Heaven (2004)
Shieldwall (2011)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (2016)
Viking Fire (2016)
References
External links
JustinHillAuthor.com
Podcast of Justin Hill discussing “Yu Xuanji and the Tang Dynasty” at the Shanghai International Literary Festival
1971 births
Living people
21st-century English novelists
Alumni of St Cuthbert's Society, Durham
People educated at St Peter's School, York
Writers of historical fiction set in the Middle Ages
People from Freeport, Bahamas
English male novelists
21st-century English male writers