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{{short description|British writer}}
{{Short description|British author (born 1957)}}
{{for|the Canadian football player|Adam Nicolson (Canadian football)}}
{{for|the Canadian football player|Adam Nicolson (Canadian football)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox writer
{{Infobox writer
| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name = Adam Nicolson
| name = The Lord Carnock
| honorific-suffix ={{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FSA|FSAs|FRSL}}
| image =
| image =

| caption =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1957|09|12}}
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1957|09|12}}
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| spouse = Olivia Fane (divorced)<br />{{marriage|[[Sarah Raven]]|1992}}
| spouse = Olivia Fane (divorced)<br />{{marriage|[[Sarah Raven]]|1992}}
| children = 5
| children = 5
| relatives = [[Nigel Nicolson]] (father)<br />Philippa née Tennyson-d'Eyncourt (mother)
| relatives = [[Nigel Nicolson]] (father)<br />Philippa née Tennyson-d'Eyncourt (mother)<br />[[Vita Sackville-West]] (grandmother)
}}
}}
'''Adam Nicolson, 5th Baron Carnock''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FSA|FSAs|FRSL}} (born 12 September 1957) is an English author who has written about history, landscape, great literature and the sea.
'''Adam Nicolson''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|sep=,|size=100%|FSA|FSAs|FRSL}} (born 12 September 1957) is an English author who has written about history, landscape, great literature and the sea. He is also the '''5th Baron Carnock''', but does not use the title.


He is noted for his books ''Sea Room'' (about the [[Shiant Isles]], a group of uninhabited islands in the [[Hebrides]]); ''God's Secretaries: The Making of the [[King James Bible]]''; ''The Mighty Dead'' (US title:''Why Homer Matters'') exploring the epic Greek poems; ''The Seabird's Cry'' about the disaster afflicting the world's seabirds; and ''The Making of Poetry'' on the Romantic Revolution in England in the 1790s.
He is noted for his books ''Sea Room'' (about the [[Shiant Isles]], a group of uninhabited islands in the [[Hebrides]]); ''God's Secretaries: The Making of the [[King James Bible]]''; ''The Mighty Dead'' (US title:''Why Homer Matters'') exploring the epic Greek poems; ''The Seabird's Cry'' about the disaster afflicting the world's seabirds; ''The Making of Poetry'' on the Romantic Revolution in England in the 1790s; and ''Life Between the Tides'', a boundary-crossing account of the tides in human and animal life.


==Biography==
==Biography==
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==Personal life==
==Personal life==
Nicolson met his first wife, the writer Olivia Fane, when he was a student at Cambridge University. They married in 1982, and had three sons: Thomas (born in 1984); William (born 1986); and Ben (born 1988).{{citation needed|date=October 2020}} The couple lived in an [[open marriage]] during the period of their relationship. Both partners had affairs,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Why Sex Doesn’t Matter|publisher=Mensch|author=Olivia Fane|date=2020}}</ref> and it was while on skiing trip to [[Switzerland]] that Nicolson had an affair with the woman who was to become his second wife, the writer and gardener [[Sarah Raven]]. After a further 18 months, Nicolson and Fane were divorced. In 1992, he married Raven, with whom he has two daughters: Rosie (born 1993); Molly (born 1996). The family live at Perch Hill Farm <ref>[http://www.perchhill.co.uk/ Perch Hill Farm]</ref> in Sussex.
Nicolson met his first wife, the writer Olivia Fane, when he was a student at Cambridge University. They married in 1982, and had sons Thomas (born 1984); William (born 1986); and Ben (born 1988).{{citation needed|date=October 2020}} They were divorced in 1992 and since then he has been married to the writer and gardener [[Sarah Raven]], with whom he has two daughters: Rosie (born 1993); Molly (born 1996). The family live at Perch Hill Farm <ref>[http://www.perchhill.co.uk/ Perch Hill Farm]</ref> in Sussex.


==Awards and recognition==
==Awards and recognition==


* 1986 [[Somerset Maugham Award]] ''Frontiers''
* 1986 [[Somerset Maugham Award]] ''Frontiers''
* 1987 PBFA Topography Prize ''Wetland'' (with Patrick Sutherland)
* 1987 PBFA Topography Prize (winner) ''Wetland'' (with Patrick Sutherland)
* 1997 [[British Press Awards]] Feature Writer of the Year (shortlist)
* 1997 [[British Press Awards]] Feature Writer of the Year (shortlist)
* 1998 [[British Book Awards]] Illustrated Book of the Year (shortlist) ''Restoration''
* 1998 [[British Book Awards]] Illustrated Book of the Year (shortlist) ''Restoration''
* 2002 [[Duff Cooper Prize]] (shortlist) ''Sea Room''
* 2002 [[Duff Cooper Prize]] (shortlist) ''Sea Room''
* 2004 [[Royal Society of Literature]] [[Heinemann Award]] ''Power and Glory''
* 2004 [[Royal Society of Literature]] [[Heinemann Award]] (winner) ''Power and Glory''
* 2005 Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Literature]]
* 2005 Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Literature]]
* 2006 [[Royal United Services Institute]] [[Duke of Westminster's Medal for Military Literature]] (shortlist) ''Men of Honour''
* 2006 [[Royal United Services Institute]] [[Duke of Westminster's Medal for Military Literature]] (shortlist) ''Men of Honour''
* 2009 [[Royal Society of Literature]] [[Ondaatje Prize]] ''Sissinghurst: An Unfinished History''
* 2009 [[Royal Society of Literature]] [[Ondaatje Prize]] (winner) ''Sissinghurst: An Unfinished History''
* 2009 [[Samuel Johnson Prize]] (longlist) ''Sissinghurst: an Unfinished History''
* 2009 [[Samuel Johnson Prize]] (longlist) ''Sissinghurst: an Unfinished History''
* 2010 Fellow of the [[Society of Antiquaries of London|Society of Antiquaries]]
* 2010 Fellow of the [[Society of Antiquaries of London|Society of Antiquaries]]
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* 2019 [[Costa Biography Award]] (shortlist) ''The Making of Poetry''
* 2019 [[Costa Biography Award]] (shortlist) ''The Making of Poetry''
* 2021 [[Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award]] (longlist) ''The Fearful Summer''
* 2021 [[Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award]] (longlist) ''The Fearful Summer''
* 2022 Richard Jefferies Society Award for Nature Writing (shortlist) ''the sea is not made of water: Life between the Tides''
* 2022 [[Wainwright Prize]] (longlist) ''the sea is not made of water: Life between the Tides''
* 2024 [[Runciman Award]] (shortlist) ''How to Be: Life Lessons from the Early Greeks''
* 2024 Pleasure of Reading Prize


==Books==
==Books==
* ''The National Trust Book of Long Walks'' (1981)
* ''The National Trust Book of Long Walks'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1981)
* ''Long Walks in France'' (1983)
* ''Long Walks in France'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1983)
* ''Frontiers'' (1985)
* ''Frontiers'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1985)
* ''Wetland'' (1987)
* ''Wetland'' (Michael Joseph, 1987)
* ''Two Roads to Dodge City'' (1988) with Nigel Nicolson
* ''Two Roads to Dodge City'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1988) with Nigel Nicolson
* ''Prospects of England'' (1990)
* ''Prospects of England: Two Thousand Years Seen Through Twelve English Towns'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1989) with Peter Morter
* ''On Foot: Guided Walks in England, France, and the United States'' (1990)
* ''On Foot: Guided Walks in England, France, and the United States'' (Weidenfeld/Harmony, 1990)
* ''Restoration: Rebuilding of Windsor Castle'' (1997)
* ''Restoration: Rebuilding of Windsor Castle'' (Michael Joseph, 1997)
* ''Regeneration: The Story of the Dome'' (1999)
* ''Regeneration: The Story of the Dome'' (HarperCollins, 1999)
* ''Perch Hill: A New Life'' (2000)
* ''Perch Hill: A New Life'' (Constable, 2000)
* ''Mrs Kipling: The Hated Wife'' (2001)
* ''Mrs Kipling: The Hated Wife'' (Short Books, 2001)
* ''Sea Room'' (2001)
* ''Sea Room'' (HarperCollins, 2001; Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2002)
* ''Power and Glory: The Making of the King James Bible'' (US title: ''God's Secretaries'') (2003) (reissued in 2011 as ''When God Spoke English'')
* ''Power and Glory: The Making of the King James Bible'' (US title: ''God's Secretaries'') (HarperCollins, 2003) (2011 reissued in UK as ''When God Spoke English'')
* ''Seamanship'' (2004)
* ''Seamanship'' (HarperCollins, 2004)
* ''Men of Honour: Trafalgar and the Making of the English Hero'' (US title: ''Seize the Fire: Heroism, Duty, and the Battle of Trafalgar)'' (2005)
* ''Men of Honour: Trafalgar and the Making of the English Hero'' (US title: ''Seize the Fire: Heroism, Duty, and the Battle of Trafalgar)'' (HarperCollins, 2005)
* ''Earls of Paradise'' (US title: ''Quarrel with the King'') (2008)
* ''Earls of Paradise'' (US title: ''Quarrel with the King'') (HarperCollins, 2008)
* ''Sissinghurst: An Unfinished History'' (2008/US revised edition 2010)
* ''Sissinghurst: An Unfinished History'' (HarperCollins, 2008; US revised edition Viking, 2010)
* ''Arcadia: The Dream of Perfection in Renaissance England'' (a revised paperback edition of ''Earls of Paradise'') (2009)
* ''Arcadia: The Dream of Perfection in Renaissance England'' (a revised paperback edition of ''Earls of Paradise'') (HarperCollins, 2009)
* ''The Smell of Summer Grass'' (an updated edition of ''Perch Hill'') (2011)
* ''The Smell of Summer Grass'' (an updated edition of ''Perch Hill'') (HarperCollins, 2011)
* ''The Gentry: Stories of the English'' (2011)
* ''The Gentry: Stories of the English'' (HarperCollins, 2011)
* ''The Mighty Dead: Why Homer Matters'' (US title: ''Why Homer Matters'') (2014)
* ''The Mighty Dead: Why Homer Matters'' (US title Henry Holt: ''Why Homer Matters'') (HarperCollins, 2014)
* ''The Seabird's Cry: The Life and Loves of Puffins, Gannets and Other Ocean Voyagers'' (2017) (US subtitle: ''The Lives and Loves of the Planet's Great Ocean Voyagers'' (2018))
* ''The Seabird's Cry: The Life and Loves of Puffins, Gannets and Other Ocean Voyagers'' (HarperCollins, 2017) (US Henry Holt: ''The Lives and Loves of the Planet's Great Ocean Voyagers'' (2018))
* ''The Making of Poetry: Coleridge, the Wordsworths and their Year of Marvels'' (2019/US edition 2020)
* ''The Making of Poetry: Coleridge, the Wordsworths and their Year of Marvels'' (HarperCollins, 2019; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020)
* ''The sea is not made of water: life between the tides'' (2021/US edition 2022)
* ''The Sea is Not Made of Water: Life Between the Tides'' (HarperCollins, 2021; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, ''Life Between the Tides'' 2022)
* ''How to Be: Life Lessons From the Early Greeks'' (HarperCollins 2023; Farrar, Straus and Giroux)


==Television==
==Television==
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{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Current Barons of the United Kingdom}}
{{Current barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicolson, Adam}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicolson, Adam}}
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[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:British people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:British people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:British people of English descent]]
[[Category:British people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:British people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:British people of Spanish descent]]
[[Category:British people of Spanish descent]]
[[Category:People from Robertsbridge]]
[[Category:Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom|Carnock, Adam Nicolson, 5th Baron]]
[[Category:British non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:People educated at Summer Fields School]]
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[[Category:Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London]]
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[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:People educated at Summer Fields School]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London]]
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[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature]]
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[[Category:Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland]]
[[Category:British columnists]]
[[Category:British columnists]]
[[Category:British television presenters]]
[[Category:British television presenters]]
[[Category:British male writers]]
[[Category:British male writers]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland]]
[[Category:British male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Barons Carnock|5]]
[[Category:Nicolson family|Adam]]

Latest revision as of 18:38, 1 July 2024

For the Canadian football player, see Adam Nicolson (Canadian football).

The Right Honourable

The Lord Carnock

FSA FSA Scot FRSL
Born (1957-09-12) 12 September 1957 (age 66)
Bransgore, England
OccupationWriter
Alma materMagdalene College, Cambridge
Period1981 to present
GenreHistory, memoir, nature, place
SpouseOlivia Fane (divorced)
​
(m. 1992)​
Children5
RelativesNigel Nicolson (father)
Philippa née Tennyson-d'Eyncourt (mother)
Vita Sackville-West (grandmother)

Adam Nicolson, FSA, FSA Scot, FRSL (born 12 September 1957) is an English author who has written about history, landscape, great literature and the sea. He is also the 5th Baron Carnock, but does not use the title.

He is noted for his books Sea Room (about the Shiant Isles, a group of uninhabited islands in the Hebrides); God's Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible; The Mighty Dead (US title:Why Homer Matters) exploring the epic Greek poems; The Seabird's Cry about the disaster afflicting the world's seabirds; The Making of Poetry on the Romantic Revolution in England in the 1790s; and Life Between the Tides, a boundary-crossing account of the tides in human and animal life.

Biography[edit]

Adam Nicolson is the son of writer Nigel Nicolson and his wife Philippa Tennyson-d'Eyncourt. He is the grandson of the writers Vita Sackville-West and Sir Harold Nicolson, and great-grandson of Sir Eustace Tennyson d'Eyncourt and Arthur Nicolson, 1st Baron Carnock. He was educated at Eaton House, Summer Fields School,[1] Eton College where he was a King's Scholar, and Magdalene College, Cambridge. He has worked as a journalist and columnist on the Sunday Times, the Sunday Telegraph, the Daily Telegraph, National Geographic Magazine and Granta, where he is a contributing editor. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the Society of Antiquaries and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

He has made several television series (with Keo Films) and radio series (with Tim Dee, the writer and radio producer) on a variety of subjects including the King James Bible, 17th-century literacy, Crete, Homer, the idea of Arcadia, the untold story of Britain's 20th-century whalers and the future of Atlantic seabirds.

Between 2005 and 2009, in partnership with the National Trust, Nicolson led a project which transformed the 260 acres (110 ha) surrounding the house and garden at Sissinghurst into a productive mixed farm, growing meat, fruit, cereals and vegetables for the National Trust restaurant.[2] And between 2012 and 2017, together with the RSPB, the EU and SNH, Nicolson and his son Tom were partners in a project to eradicate invasive predators from the Shiant Isles, Outer Hebrides, Scotland. In March 2018, the islands were declared rat-free.[3]

In December 2008 he succeeded his cousin David Nicolson, 4th Baron Carnock, as 5th Baron Carnock but he does not use the title.[4]

Personal life[edit]

Nicolson met his first wife, the writer Olivia Fane, when he was a student at Cambridge University. They married in 1982, and had sons Thomas (born 1984); William (born 1986); and Ben (born 1988).[citation needed] They were divorced in 1992 and since then he has been married to the writer and gardener Sarah Raven, with whom he has two daughters: Rosie (born 1993); Molly (born 1996). The family live at Perch Hill Farm [5] in Sussex.

Awards and recognition[edit]

Books[edit]

  • The National Trust Book of Long Walks (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1981)
  • Long Walks in France (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1983)
  • Frontiers (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1985)
  • Wetland (Michael Joseph, 1987)
  • Two Roads to Dodge City (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1988) with Nigel Nicolson
  • Prospects of England: Two Thousand Years Seen Through Twelve English Towns (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1989) with Peter Morter
  • On Foot: Guided Walks in England, France, and the United States (Weidenfeld/Harmony, 1990)
  • Restoration: Rebuilding of Windsor Castle (Michael Joseph, 1997)
  • Regeneration: The Story of the Dome (HarperCollins, 1999)
  • Perch Hill: A New Life (Constable, 2000)
  • Mrs Kipling: The Hated Wife (Short Books, 2001)
  • Sea Room (HarperCollins, 2001; Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2002)
  • Power and Glory: The Making of the King James Bible (US title: God's Secretaries) (HarperCollins, 2003) (2011 reissued in UK as When God Spoke English)
  • Seamanship (HarperCollins, 2004)
  • Men of Honour: Trafalgar and the Making of the English Hero (US title: Seize the Fire: Heroism, Duty, and the Battle of Trafalgar) (HarperCollins, 2005)
  • Earls of Paradise (US title: Quarrel with the King) (HarperCollins, 2008)
  • Sissinghurst: An Unfinished History (HarperCollins, 2008; US revised edition Viking, 2010)
  • Arcadia: The Dream of Perfection in Renaissance England (a revised paperback edition of Earls of Paradise) (HarperCollins, 2009)
  • The Smell of Summer Grass (an updated edition of Perch Hill) (HarperCollins, 2011)
  • The Gentry: Stories of the English (HarperCollins, 2011)
  • The Mighty Dead: Why Homer Matters (US title Henry Holt: Why Homer Matters) (HarperCollins, 2014)
  • The Seabird's Cry: The Life and Loves of Puffins, Gannets and Other Ocean Voyagers (HarperCollins, 2017) (US Henry Holt: The Lives and Loves of the Planet's Great Ocean Voyagers (2018))
  • The Making of Poetry: Coleridge, the Wordsworths and their Year of Marvels (HarperCollins, 2019; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020)
  • The Sea is Not Made of Water: Life Between the Tides (HarperCollins, 2021; Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Life Between the Tides 2022)
  • How to Be: Life Lessons From the Early Greeks (HarperCollins 2023; Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Television[edit]

  • Atlantic Britain Channel 4, 2004
  • Sissinghurst BBC 4, 2009
  • When God Spoke English: The Making of the King James Bible BBC 4, 2011
  • The Century That Wrote Itself BBC 4, 2013
  • Britain's Whale Hunters BBC 4, 2014
  • The Last Seabird Summer? BBC 4, 2016

Radio[edit]

  • Homer's Landscapes 3 x 45 mins, BBC Radio 3, 2008
  • A Cretan Spring 5 x 15 mins, with Sarah Raven, BBC Radio 3, 2009
  • Dark Arcadias 2 x 45 mins, BBC Radio 3, 2011

References[edit]

  1. ^ Adam Nicolson. Prepared for Anything. The Times Magazine, 25 June 1994. pages 24–30.
  2. ^ Sunday Times, 8 February 2009
  3. ^ BBC: Shiant Islands in the Minch declared rat-free
  4. ^ rexfeatures.com Rex Features 31 January 2009, Adam Nicolson, 5th Baron Carnock at home at Sissinghurst Castle
  5. ^ Perch Hill Farm

External links[edit]

Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Baron Carnock
2008–present 		Incumbent
Heir apparent:
Hon. Thomas Nicolson
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