Canning in 1938 with his dogs Polycarp and Abigail |
These pages celebrate the work of Victor Canning (1911 - 1986), a writer of sixty-one books altogether, including one travel book, eighteen novels both comic and serious, four historical novels set in Roman and Arthurian Britain, three children's books, two short story collections (plus an abundance of other stories) and thirty-three thrillers, the best of which are some of the finest ever written in this genre. Under Life is an introduction for new readers, a short biography, a list of the places where he lived, and a set of portraits. Under Works you will find a full bibliography including his work for stage, film, TV and radio, with prefaces to all of the books and summaries of all the surviving short stories. Under Background you will find a collection of brief quotations from Canning's books on a range of subjects, extracts about what became for him a major hobby, fishing, citations from and references to major poets (he was fond of poetry), descriptions of food and cooking (in case you want to assemble a Canning celebration dinner), and a list of the settings of the novels and stories. I have also created a page about citations from Canning's books in the Oxford English Dictionary, lists of the books he enjoyed himself and recommended to his sister, and a list of articles about Victor Canning, mostly from newspapers.. Click News, links and publications to see items on the deaths of Richard Griffiths, Dinah Sheridan and Kate O'Mara, all of whom had strong associations with Canning adaptations, along with explorations of the background to the books, and how we marked Canning's centenary in June 2011. Click on this link to find the Victor Canning page at Curtis Brown, the agency who look after the rights to his work. |