Beatrice Colin

Beatrice Colin (14 October 1963 – 6 February 2019) was a British novelist, radio dramatist, and senior lecturer in creative writing at the University of Strathclyde.[1]

Beatrice Colin
Born(1963-10-14)October 14, 1963
London, England
DiedFebruary 6, 2019(2019-02-06) (aged 55)
Glasgow, Scotland
Occupation(s)Novelist
Radio dramatist
Lecturer
Known forNovelist, radio dramatist and senior lecturer in creative writing
Spouses
  • Ewan Morrison
  • Paul Harkin

Early life

Beatrice Colin was born in London on 14 October 1963. Her family moved to Lancashire and then to Glasgow, where she attended Dumbarton Academy and Park School for Girls, followed by the University of Glasgow in 1982, where she read English. There she formed the musical duo April Showers with Jonathan Bernstein – their single Abandon Ship reached 144 in the UK singles charts.[1][2][3]

Career

After graduating from the University of Glasgow, she worked as a journalist for the arts and features pages of publications including The Scotsman, Sunday Herald and The Guardian.

In her late twenties, she won a Radio 4 short story competition and started writing radio plays and adaptations.[4][5]

She completed her PhD in creative writing at the University of Strathclyde in 2008.[5]

Novels
  • Nude, Untitled, 2001
    — shortlisted for the Saltire First Book Award
  • Disappearing Act, 2002
  • The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite (UK title), 2008
    The Glimmer Palace (US title), 2007 [6]
    — Recommended by the Richard & Judy Book Club, 2009
  • The Songwriter, 2010 [5]
    New York 1916, 2011 (Italian translation)
  • To Capture What We Cannot Keep, 2016 [7] [8]
  • The Glass House, 2020

Short stories
  • The Suffragette’s Party
  • Toad
  • Grey Evening

For children
  • My Invisible Sister with Sara Pinto, 2010 (made into the film Invisible Sister by Disney TV)
  • Pyrate’s Boy, 2013 (as E B Colin)

Radio plays
Radio plays written by Beatrice Colin
Date first broadcast Play Director Cast Synopsis
Awards		 Station
Series
18 September 1995 Bear Junction [9] [10] Patrick Rayner Read by Siobhan Redmond Miss Colleen learns to drive with the intriguingly mysterious Mr Podstovski. She isn't a very good pupil – but then he isn't a very good teacher. BBC Radio 4
Short Story
18 April 1996 The Electric Angel [11] Patrick Rayner Liam Brennan, Deirdre Davis, Anne Kristen, Louise Ironside, Mark Cox, Margaret Clark and Owen Kavanagh Set in about 1968, when the Apollo space missions were in the news. A young man from Oban comes to the big city to find work, and falls for a girl he meets... BBC Radio 4
28 January 1998 Camisole [12] [13] Bruce Young Read by Tamara Kennedy Penny was once the type of child who used to hide between her mother's fur coats. She stroked them like huge affectionate pets in the dark of the wardrobe. Now Penny runs a vintage clothing shop where she becomes intrigued by a regular customer called Mr Jamaica. BBC Radio 4
Short Story
9 April 1998 The Maids of Orleans [14] Patrick Rayner Eliza Langland, Kathryn Howden, Emma Currie and Michael Perceval-Maxwell Set in France during the second World War. As the Germans advance, three women escape to a chateau in the Loire valley. BBC Radio 4
Afternoon Play
26 January 2000 The Rocks Below [15] [16] Gaynor Macfarlane Deirdre Davis, Mairl Gillespie, Derek McGhie, Gayanne Potter, Simon Tait and Paul Young On a small Scottish island in the 1950s, identical twins are forced by the imminent death of their father to confront a secret. BBC Radio 4
Afternoon Play
10 March 2000 Mercury, Sulphur and Salt [17] Patrick Rayner Mark McDonnell, Vicki Liddelle, Eliza Langland, James Bryce, Crawford Logan, Jimmy Chlsholm and Ronald Simon Based on real events in 1527 Basle, in a shabby garret the famous physician Paracelsus and his mistress Sybille crouch over a crucible. Their life-or-death experiment is reaching the final stage, but outside in the winter night a search party is drawing ever nearer. BBC Radio 4
The Friday Play
23 October 2000 – 3 November 2000 The Weight of Water [18]
Dramatisation of Anita Shreve novel		 Gaynor Macfarlane Nancy Crane, Derbhle Crotty, Emma Fielding, Karl Johnson, Page Marshall, Isobel Middleton, Stuart Milligan and Simon Scardlfleld On the night of 5 March 1873, two women, both Norwegian emigrants, were murdered on the Isles of Shoals. In the present day, a newspaper photographer discovers a cache of papers that appear to give an eyewitness account of the murders. BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour Drama
20 March 2003 King of Shadows [19]
Dramatisation of Susan Cooper novel		 Gaynor Macfarlane Buffy Davis, Sally Dexter, Tom George, Robert Glenister, Martin Hyder, Adam Sims and Andrew Woodall A magical adventure story set both in the present day and in Elizabethan England. Chosen to play Puck in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Shakespeare's Globe, young American Nat Field travels to London. Visiting the theatre for the first time, he falls seriously ill. When he awakes, he finds that he has gone back 400 years in time. BBC Radio 4
Afternoon Play
4 May 2003 – 11 May 2003 Precious Bane [20]
Dramatisation of Mary Webb novel		 Gaynor Macfarlane Louise Breckon-Richards, Laura Doddington, Owen Teale, Julia Ford, Tom Goodman-Hill, Helen Schlesinger, Maggie Steed, Nigel Terry and Timothy Watson Prue Sam is born "hare shotten" and it is this hare lip that is her "precious bane". She is torn between loyalty to her recklessly ambitious brother, Gideon, and a deep unexpressed love for the weaver Kester Woodseaves. BBC Radio 4
Classic Serial
30 January 2004 Mapping the Heart [21] Gaynor Macfarlane Gayanne Potter, Stuart Milligan, Monica Gibb, Paul Young and Lewis Howden An adventure story set in 1950 in the Brazilian rainforest. Scots-born Kristina Morrison is thrown together with opinionated American Ray Epstein when their light aircraft crashes in the jungle. Kristina finds herself torn between two men: Ray and her explorer father Felix. BBC Radio 4
Afternoon Play
25 August 2006 The January Wedding Lu Kemp Karl Johnson, Cressida Trew, Richard Katz, Susan Engel and Sam Dale In 1969 a landmark court case was brought in the UK. A young Polish woman petitioned for her marriage to an elderly Warsaw academic to be annulled. The annulment was granted on the basis that the marriage had taken place under duress. He had married her to save her from imprisonment under the Polish communist regime. BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play
22 March 2011 Census 2011: The Suffragette's Party [22] Eilidh McCreadie Read by Melody Grove A story about principles and protest as a woman risks the wrath of her family by gathering with fellow suffragettes on census night 1911. BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Reading
26 August 2013 – 30 August 2013 The True Story of Bonnie Parker [23] Gaynor Macfarlane Melody Grove, Finn den Hertog, Robin Laing, Liam Brennan, James Anthony Pearson and Rosalind Sydney Having dropped out of high school and married at 16, the young Bonnie Parker is working as a waitress. Her life is about to change – when she meets Clyde Barrow. BBC Radio 4
15 Minute Drama
2 February 2015 – 6 February 2015 The Ice Wife [24] Gaynor Macfarlane Claire Rushbrook, Steven Cree, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Ian Conningham and Sam Dale Tensions are running high on the skeleton over-wintering crew on an Antarctic base – but why? BBC Radio 4
15 Minute Drama
1 December 2017 The Ferryman’s Apprentice [25] Gaynor Macfarlane Gary Lewis, Chris O'Reilly, Rosalind Sydney and Tom Smith Charon is the Ferryman on the river Acheron. His job is to ferry sinners across the river of woe and decide into which circle of Hell they should go. His son, Thomas, is determined to pursue a different career. BBC Radio 4
Afternoon Drama
14 January 2018 The Vital Spark: The Driver’s Seat [26]
Dramatisation of Muriel Spark novel		 Gaynor Macfarlane Shauna Macdonald, Alexandra Mathie, Robert Jack, Robin Laing, Cesare Taurasi, Georgie Glen, Alasdair Hankinson and Karen Bartke Lise, an enigmatic young woman travelling alone to a European city in search of "the one". We assume that she is seeking a lover but in fact she is searching for the man who will murder her. BBC Radio 4
1 June 2018 The Poet and the Echo: Grey Evening [27] Gaynor Macfarlane Read by Cal MacAninch An achromatic artist is exposed in this witty story inspired by D H Lawrence's poem. BBC Radio 4

Theatre
Stage plays written by Beatrice Colin
DateTitleDirectorCastSynopsisTheatre
Company
23 June 2005 The Past is not a Place [28] Gaynor Macfarlane When three female journalists arrive at a health spa on an isolated island, they expect a few days of relaxing detoxification. But this is no ordinary holiday destination, as they quickly discover. As lust, regret and betrayal all threaten to crack their fragile equilibrium, the women come face to face with what brought them there and why. Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh
Stellar Quines Theatre Company
30 June 2005 Tron Theatre, Glasgow
Stellar Quines Theatre Company

Film

Personal life

Beatrice Colin married Ewan Morrison in 1996; the couple had two children, Theo in 1998 and Frances in 2001. Their marriage ended in 2003.

She met Paul Harkin, a lecturer, in 2008; they married in 2016.

She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2016, from which she died in 2019 aged 55.[1]

References
  1. Obituary: Beatrice Colin, writer and teacher – Gaynor Macfarlane, The Herald, 21 February 2019
  2. Abandon Ship by April Showers – YouTube
  3. Abandon Ship by April Showers – Discogs
  4. BBC Radio Young Writers: 25 Years On
  5. Beatrice Colin talks about the febrile New York she uncovered for her latest novel, set in the Jazz Age – The Scotsman, 19 March 2010
  6. Weimar Screen Star – Mike Peed, New York Times, 14 Sept 2008
  7. To Capture What We Cannot Keep by Beatrice Colin – MacMillan Publishers
  8. Paris – Nancy Kline, New York Times, 3 Feb 2017
  9. BBC – Short Story – Bear Junction
  10. BBC – Radio Times – Short Story: Bear Junction
  11. BBC – Radio Times – The Electric Angel
  12. BBC – Short Story – Camisole
  13. BBC – Radio Times – Short Story: Camisole
  14. BBC – Radio Times – Afternoon Play: The Maids of Orleans
  15. BBC – Afternoon Play – The Rocks Below
  16. BBC – Radio Times – Afternoon Play: The Rocks Below
  17. BBC – Radio Times – The Friday Play: Mercury, Sulphur and Salt
  18. BBC – Radio Times – Woman's Hour Drama: The Weight of Water
  19. BBC – Radio Times – Afternoon Play: King of Shadows
  20. BBC – Radio Times – Classic Serial: Precious Bane
  21. BBC – Radio Times – Afternoon Play: Mapping the Heart
  22. BBC – Afternoon Reading – Census 2011: The Suffragette's Party
  23. BBC – 15 Minute Drama – The True Story of Bonnie Parker
  24. BBC – 15 Minute Drama – The Ice Wife
  25. BBC – Afternoon Drama – The Ferryman’s Apprentice
  26. BBC – Classic Serial – The Vital Spark: The Driver’s Seat
  27. BBC – The Poet and the Echo – Grey Evening
  28. "The Past is not a Place – Stellar Quines Theatre Company". Archived from the original on 4 March 2012. Retrieved 30 October 2011.


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