James Heneage

James Heneage (born 31 October 1957) is a British historical fiction writer, and the co-founder of the Ottakar’s bookshop chain and the Chalke Valley History Festival.

Career

Heneage was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards where he served a short-service commission from 1978 to 1982. Between 1982 and 1987 he worked in advertising, finishing as an Account Director for Ogilvy and Mather.

In 1987, he founded the bookshop chain Ottakar’s which was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1998 and grew to a chain of 142 branches, employing some 2,500 people. Despite Heneage and others attempting a management buyout,[1][2] the chain was sold to the HMV Group, then owner of Waterstones, in 2006. Ottakar’s was well known in the book trade for the exceptionally high morale and commitment of its staff, considered “more like a religious cult than a business". Also in 2006 he was awarded The Random House Group Award for Outstanding Contribution to Bookselling. "His achievement will leave an ideological and emotional imprint on this industry," said one judge.[3]

In 2007, he became chairman of the Cheltenham Literary Festival, leaving three years later to co-found the Chalke Valley History Festival, the largest festival devoted entirely to history in the UK. He was a Booker Prize judge in 2008.[4] and chaired the Costa Book Awards in 2014[5]

In 2007, Heneage helped set up, and direct, The Prince’s Rainforest Project, an initiative of the Prince of Wales to find solutions for the destruction of the world’s rainforests ahead of the Copenhagen Climate Summit of 2009.[6]

In 2010, Heneage became a full-time writer and has had five novels published by Quercus and its imprint Heron.[7] His latest book, A World on Fire, was published in August 2018.

Personal life

James Heneage is married to Charlotte and they have four children. They live half of the year in Bowerchalke, Wiltshire in the United Kingdom, and half in a house they built near Kardimili in the Peloponnese. He is a lifetime devotee of Tintin and named his bookshop chain, Ottakar's after his favourite of the books.[8]

Books

Heneage signed a three-book deal with Quercus in 2012 for the Mistra Chronicles, an historical fiction series set during the Byzantine–Ottoman wars.[9] This was extended to four books when Quercus was taken over by Hodder & Stoughton, an imprint of the Hachette Book Group.

The Walls of Byzantium (Heron[7] 2013)

The Towers of Samarcand (Heron[7] 2014) [9]

The Lion of Mistra (Heron[7] 2015)

By Blood Divided (Quercus[7] 2017)

A fifth novel was published in August 2018. It is separate from the Mistra Chronicles and concerns events in Greece during 1824.[10]

A World on Fire (Quercus[7] 2018)

The Shortest History of Greece is scheduled to be published by Old Street Publishing in May 2021

gollark: Why have you not done so yet?
gollark: Go install `lua-cqueues`, lyricly.
gollark: What?
gollark: ?tag SCP-055
gollark: ?tag bee

References
  1. "BBC NEWS | Business | Ottakar's founders launch buyout". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-07-03.
  2. "Ottakar's chief wants to turn new leaf with buyout plan". thetimes.co.uk. 2017-07-03.
  3. "Amazon takes awards crown, as Heneage receives accolade | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 2017-07-04.
  4. "Michael Portillo to chair 2008 Man Booker judges | The Man Booker Prizes". themanbookerprize.com. Retrieved 2017-06-13.
  5. "Heneage to chair 2015 Costa Book Awards | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 2017-06-13.
  6. "Prince's Rainforests Project - SourceWatch". www.sourcewatch.org. Retrieved 2017-11-16.
  7. James Heneage - Quercus.
  8. "Odd man out in a cut-throat world". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-06-13.
  9. Henshaw, Nancy. "Review:The Towers of Samarcand" Historical Novel Society, August 2015. Retrieved 29th February 2020.
  10. Moxey, Nicky. "Review:A World On Fire". Historical Novel Society, November 2018. Retrieved 29th February 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.