Roma Tearne

Roma Tearne (née Chrysostom; born 1954) is a Sri Lankan-born artist and writer living and working in England. Her debut novel, Mosquito, was shortlisted for the 2007 Costa Book Awards first Novel prize (formerly the Whitbread Prize).

Biography and career

Roma Tearne completed an MA at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford, in September 2002. She was Leverhulme Artist in Residence at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford in 2002–2003, then Artist in Residence at Modern Art Oxford in February 2005. In October 2005 she started a three-year post-doctoral AHRC fellowship at Oxford Brookes University.

Thereafter Tearne began to write. Her first novel, Mosquito, was published by Harper Collins in 2007 and shortlisted for the Costa Prize. Her second novel, Bone China, appeared in the spring of 2008, and her third, Brixton Beach in 2009, became a "TV Book Club Read". Her fourth novel, The Swimmer, was published in May 2010 and long-listed for the Orange Prize. A film based on the narrative was made by Tearne and shown at the Venice Biennale in 2011. Her fifth novel, The Road to Urbino published in 2012, was long-listed for the Asian Man Booker. Another film by Tearne, based on this novel, was shown at the National Gallery, London, in June of that year. She herself has directed and shot five short films, the last of which, Letter from Urbino, was screened at the National Gallery, London, in 2012. She has since written two more novels, The Last Pier and The White City, and is working on an eighth.

Publications
  • 2012 (June 23) "The Essay: In Search of the Art of Enchantment", The Independent
  • 2012 (June) The Road To Urbino (Little Brown)
  • 2012 (June) Letter From Urbino (film) for The National Gallery, London
  • 2011 (June) French translation of Brixton Beach launched at St. Malo Festival, shortlisted for a French readers' prize
  • 2011 (June) Venice Biennale Film, The Swimmer, at the Armenian Pavilion, in association with Oxford Brookes University
  • 2010 (May) The Swimmer, novel (HarperCollins)
  • 2009 (June) Brixton Beach, novel (HarperCollins)
  • 2008 (November) Watermuseum, film for Nottingham Castle Museum
  • 2008 (April) Bone China, novel (HarperCollins)
  • 2007 "In search of the Unseen Venice", The Times, Saturday 1 September.
  • 2007 (March) Mosquito, novel (HarperCollins), shortlisted for Costa First Novel Award
  • 2007 (March) Chasing Venus, for Museum of the History of Science, Oxford
  • 2004 Field Study – 2, (London College of Communication) in conjunction with Tate Modern
  • 2004 "My Shadow Collection", Nel Corpo delle Città (Gangemaini, Rome), pp. 19-43
  • 2003 "Happenings in a Museum" (Ashmole Books) 23 pp.
  • 2002 "The House of Small Things" (Angel Row, Nottingham) 10 pp.
  • 2002 "House of Small Things", Source (Winter), pp. 26–33

Bibliography
  • Mosquito. Harper Collins. 5 March 2007. ISBN 0007233655.
  • Bone China. Harper Collins. 2008. ISBN 0007240732.
  • Brixton Beach. HarperPress. 2009. ISBN 9780007301560.
  • The Swimmer. 2010. ISBN 9780007301591. (long-listed for the Orange Prize 2011)[1]
  • The Road to Urbino. Abacus. 2012. ISBN 9781408703922.
  • The Last Pier. Aardvark Bureau. 2015. ISBN 9781910709306.
  • The White City. Aardvark Bureau. 2017. ISBN 9781910709429.

PUBLIC EVENTS


2013 BBC Radio Open Book.

2012 BBC Radio Woman’s Hour.

2012 BBC Radio Front Row.

2008 (June) Art and Neuroscience. A series of talks at Oxford University.


Selected Exhibitions

2019 Royal Academy of Arts, Summer Exhibition.

2009 (June) 198 Gallery, one person show.

2008 (November) ‘Watermuseum’, Nottingham Castle Museum, supported by Nottingham City Council and the AHRC.

2007 (August) Flashline: Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh. As part of the Edinburgh Art Festival.

2007 (March) ‘Crossing the Water’: Modern Art, Oxford.

2007 (March) Blindfolding of the Sheldonian Emperor Statues.

2006 Every Object Tells a Story. The South Asian gallery, V&A.

2005 (February) Artist in Residence, Modern Art, Oxford.

2004 (July) Museo Laboratorio di Arte Contemporaneo, ‘La Sapienza’, Rome. Blindfolding of statues around the city including Giordano Bruno.

2004 Installation at Modern Art, Oxford.

2003 Light installations St Mary’s University Church, Oxford.

2002 Ruskin MA degree show: London: Cubit gallery.

2002 Bracknell Manor House: ‘Traces’ New work as part of prize-winning entry for ‘Open Shutter’.

2002 ‘The House of Small Things’: Supported by Southern Arts and London Arts Board. A Touring Exhibition: Angel Row, Nottingham: X-Change Gallery, Oxford: 198 Gallery, London: Bracknell Gallery, Berkshire.

2002 Fotonetsouth: Bracknell Gallery Photographic show: First Prize.

2001 ‘Sounding the Heart’. One person show, Milton Keynes General Hospital, National Health Service Trust.

1997 Bankside Gallery, London. Royal Watercolour Society.

1997 Sphinx Gallery, St. James’s, London.

1997 Royal Academy of Arts, London.

1997 Cadogan Gallery, London.

1992 Ikon Gallery, Birmingham. South Asian Arts Festival.

1991 Bankside Gallery, London. Mixed show.

1991 Royal Society of Painters and Etchers, London.

1990 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool/Oxford Gallery. Mixed show.

1990 Royal Society of Painters and Etchers, London.

1991 Royal Academy of Arts, London.

1990 Royal Academy of Arts, London.

1989 Royal Academy of Arts, London.

References
  • Susan Wyndham, "A Novel of Sri Lanka's War in Lush Tropical Detail", The New York Times, 26 May 2018
  • Paul Simon, "Bleak but Beautiful Fiction of Near Future Disintegration... The White City". The Morning Star, 20 October 2017
  • Liz Hoggard, "The Last Pier by Roma Tearne …A Poetic Tale of Family Ties, Love and Loss", The Independent, 9 April 2015.
  • Roma Tearne, "Ariadne's Thread: in Memory of W. G. Sebald", The Independent, 10 February 2015
  • Jane Housham, "The Road To Urbino", Guardian, 21 June 2013
  • Lucy Scholes, "The Road to Urbino by Roma Tearne", The Independent, 18 August 2012
  • Roma Tearne, "The Essay: In Search of the Art of Enchantment", The Independent, 23 June 2012
  • Lucy Popescu, "The Tuesday Book", The Independent, 8 June 2010
  • Roma Tearne, "Sri Lanka’s Writers Must Remember and Speak Out", The Independent, 7 May 2010
  • Alfred Hickling, "A Healing Art", Guardian, 4 July 2009
  • Robert Clark, "Roma Tearne, Nottingham", Guardian, 20 December 2008
  • Roma Tearne, "Life and Style", The Guardian, 14 June 2008
  • Julie Wheelwright, "The Enemy Within", The Independent, 18 April 2008
  • Christopher Ondaatje, "Dear, Unhappy Isle", Spectator, 17 March 2007
  • "Artist 'Blinds Emperors' Heads'. Oxford Times, 30 March 2007
  • "Happenings in a Museum", AN: Magazine for Artists, July 2003, pp. 6-7. Source: December 2002: "The House of Small Things"
  1. "site institutionnel d'Orange - orange.com". www.orangeprize.co.uk (in French). Retrieved 6 March 2018.


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