Peter Ackroyd, CBE, FRSL (born 5 October 1949) is an English biographer, novelist, and critic with a particular interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, Charles Dickens, T. S. Eliot and Sir Thomas More he won the Somerset Maugham Award and two Whitbread Awards. He is noted for the volume of work he has produced, the range of styles therein, his skill at assuming different voices and the depth of his research. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society for Literature in 1984 and appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2003.
All cities are impressive in their way, because they represent the aspiration of men to lead a common life; those people who wish to live agreeable lives, and in constant intercourse with one another, will build a city as beautiful as Paris. Those whose relations are founded principally upon commerce and upon the ferocious claims of domestic privacy will build a city as ugly and as unwieldy as London.
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London has always provided the landscape for my imagination. It becomes a character - a living being - within each of my books.
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Holborn, London, England [May 2009]
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In the Independent of Sunday 2006 Pink List - a list of the most influential gay men and women - he came no. 11, up from no. 13.
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Was raised by his mother, Audrey Whiteside, and his grandmother on a council estate near Wormwood Scrubs prison.
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He was awarded the C.B.E. (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2003 Queen's New Year's Honours List for his services to Literature.
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Acclaimed English writer noted for his works on London and Charles Dickens.
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