RB - Richard Beard Archive
Reference code
RB
Level of description
Collection
Title
Richard Beard Archive
Date/s
1988-2015
Quantity & Format
14 boxes Mixed
Corporate name
British Archive for Contemporary Writing
Personal name
Beard, Richard 1967-
Subject
Authors, English -- 20th century
System of arrangement
The collection is one of many individual deposits forming part of the wider British Archive for Contemporary Writing, est. 2015.
Original layout of deposit
1 suitcase, 2 large boxes and 4 file boxes. Suitcase and 2 large boxes re-boxed; 4 file boxes retained.
Suitcase unpacked and sorted into 1/A and 1/B
1st original box unpacked and sorted into: 2/A, 2/B, 2/C
2nd original box decanted into: 3/A, 3/B, 3/C, 3/D
Boxes 4-8.
RB/1/A
Unpublished novels
RB/1/B
NOBLE DESIRES
Short stories
Letters
RB/2/A - B
Notebooks
RB/2/C
X20
FORUM/ EROTIC STORIES magazine
THE CARTOONIST
RB/3/A - D
ACTS OF THE ASSASSINS
RB/4
LAZARUS IS DEAD
BECOMING DRUSILLA
RB/5
MUDDIED OAFS
RB/6
THE CARTOONIST
RB/7
DAMASCUS
RB/8
MANLY PURSUITS
DRY BONES
Correspondence
Original layout of deposit
1 suitcase, 2 large boxes and 4 file boxes. Suitcase and 2 large boxes re-boxed; 4 file boxes retained.
Suitcase unpacked and sorted into 1/A and 1/B
1st original box unpacked and sorted into: 2/A, 2/B, 2/C
2nd original box decanted into: 3/A, 3/B, 3/C, 3/D
Boxes 4-8.
RB/1/A
Unpublished novels
RB/1/B
NOBLE DESIRES
Short stories
Letters
RB/2/A - B
Notebooks
RB/2/C
X20
FORUM/ EROTIC STORIES magazine
THE CARTOONIST
RB/3/A - D
ACTS OF THE ASSASSINS
RB/4
LAZARUS IS DEAD
BECOMING DRUSILLA
RB/5
MUDDIED OAFS
RB/6
THE CARTOONIST
RB/7
DAMASCUS
RB/8
MANLY PURSUITS
DRY BONES
Correspondence
Creator
Beard, Richard 1967-
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Deposited in 2016: 1 suitcase, 2 large boxes and 4 file boxes. Suitcase and 2 large boxes re-boxed; 4 file boxes retained. Three notebooks deposited 1/2/17 and incorporated with other notebooks.
Scope and content
Richard James Beard (born 12 January 1967) is an English novelist, non-fiction writer and teacher.
Beard’s first novel, X20: A Novel of Not Smoking, was published by Harper Collins (1996), and in 1997 was a New York Times Summer Reading Selection. His second novel Damascus (1998), investigates 'the leap of faith that transmutes ordinary life into the condition of ecstasy, the condition of being wholly and transcendentally in love', and was a New York Time Notable Book in 1999. Both these novels are influenced by the principles of the Oulipo, the French school of intellectuals who sought to trigger ideas and inspiration through constrained writing techniques. His other novels include The Cartoonist (2000) which uses 'an artificial, Oulipo-type constraint to illustrate a real-life constraint on the imagination', and Dry Bones (2004), a study of 'the big issues of personal accountability and civic responsibility'. Beard has published two retellings of biblical stories: Lazarus is Dead (2011), which retraces the relationship between Jesus and Lazarus; and Acts of the Assassins (2015) which tells the story of Jesus’s death and resurrection, and the subsequent martyrdom of all the disciples, one by one. This was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize, 2015.
His first work of non-fiction, Muddied Oafs, The Last Days of Rugger (2003) traces the changes to the game of Rugby Union. It was longlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award. Manly Pursuits (2006) retitled for the paperback edition as How To Beat the Australians, tells of how 'his sense of athletic inferiority led him to travel to the Sydney suburb of Manly to examine what makes Australians so competitive'. Becoming Drusilla, the story of long-time friend Dru who underwent gender reassignment, was published by Harvill Secker (2008). All these non-fiction works contain elements of autobiography and travel writing.
Beard was shortlisted for the 2008 BBC National Short Story Prize and longlisted for the 2010 Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award. His short stories have appeared in Granta, Prospect and have been recorded for BBC Radio 4. In 1997 and 2015 he received an Arts Council Authors Award and in 2000 was the recipient of a grant from the K Blundell Trust. He has been selected as a writer-in-residence at Gladstone’s Library.
The collection was deposited in the Archives as a loan in 2016. Further items were added in 2017. The collection contains typescripts, notebooks, notes, drafts, correspondence, press-cuttings, ephemera, electronic discs.
Beard’s first novel, X20: A Novel of Not Smoking, was published by Harper Collins (1996), and in 1997 was a New York Times Summer Reading Selection. His second novel Damascus (1998), investigates 'the leap of faith that transmutes ordinary life into the condition of ecstasy, the condition of being wholly and transcendentally in love', and was a New York Time Notable Book in 1999. Both these novels are influenced by the principles of the Oulipo, the French school of intellectuals who sought to trigger ideas and inspiration through constrained writing techniques. His other novels include The Cartoonist (2000) which uses 'an artificial, Oulipo-type constraint to illustrate a real-life constraint on the imagination', and Dry Bones (2004), a study of 'the big issues of personal accountability and civic responsibility'. Beard has published two retellings of biblical stories: Lazarus is Dead (2011), which retraces the relationship between Jesus and Lazarus; and Acts of the Assassins (2015) which tells the story of Jesus’s death and resurrection, and the subsequent martyrdom of all the disciples, one by one. This was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize, 2015.
His first work of non-fiction, Muddied Oafs, The Last Days of Rugger (2003) traces the changes to the game of Rugby Union. It was longlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award. Manly Pursuits (2006) retitled for the paperback edition as How To Beat the Australians, tells of how 'his sense of athletic inferiority led him to travel to the Sydney suburb of Manly to examine what makes Australians so competitive'. Becoming Drusilla, the story of long-time friend Dru who underwent gender reassignment, was published by Harvill Secker (2008). All these non-fiction works contain elements of autobiography and travel writing.
Beard was shortlisted for the 2008 BBC National Short Story Prize and longlisted for the 2010 Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award. His short stories have appeared in Granta, Prospect and have been recorded for BBC Radio 4. In 1997 and 2015 he received an Arts Council Authors Award and in 2000 was the recipient of a grant from the K Blundell Trust. He has been selected as a writer-in-residence at Gladstone’s Library.
The collection was deposited in the Archives as a loan in 2016. Further items were added in 2017. The collection contains typescripts, notebooks, notes, drafts, correspondence, press-cuttings, ephemera, electronic discs.
- RB - Richard Beard Archive