British journalist, author and biographer (born 1945)
Hastings ancestral coat of arms
Lady Selina Shirley Hastings (born 5 March 1945) is a British journalist, author and biographer.
The elder daughter of Francis, 16th Earl of Huntingdon , by his second marriage to Margaret Lane ,[ 1] Hastings was educated at St Hugh's College, Oxford , where she took an MA degree .[ 2]
Hastings's books include Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady (1985), Nancy Mitford (1986), The Singing Ringing Tree , The Man Who Wanted to Live Forever (both 1988), The Firebird , Evelyn Waugh (both 1995), Beibl Lliw Y Plant (1998), Rosamond Lehmann (2002) and The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham (2010). She is a past recipient of the Marsh Biography Award .[ 3]
Reviewing Nancy Mitford for The New York Times , William McBrien questioned Hastings' sparse documentation of some of the facts in the book. He praised the book for its depiction of that historical period.[ 4] Evelyn Waugh was reviewed by The New York Times , The Guardian and The Spectator .[ 5] [ 6] [ 7] Rosamond Lehmann was reviewed in The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph .[ 8] [ 9] The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham was reviewed in The New York Times , The Guardian , The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times .[ 10] [ 11] [ 12] [ 13]
Hastings was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL) in 1994.[ 14] Among others she and her sister, Lady Harriet Shackleton, are in remainder to several ancient English baronies , including those of Hastings and Botreaux .
^ "ThePeerage.com, p. 7908" . ThePeerage.com. Retrieved 1 April 2015 .
^ "Debrett's People of Today " . Debretts.com. 5 March 1945. Archived from the original on 21 February 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2015 .
^ International Who's Who of Authors and Writers 2004 . Europa Publications . 2003. p. 238. ISBN 978-1-85743-179-7 . Retrieved 8 April 2015 .
^ McBrien, William (17 August 1986). "O Brave U World" . The New York Times . Retrieved 8 April 2015 .
^ Kenner, Hugh (16 April 1995). "Hell was other people" . The New York Times . Retrieved 8 April 2015 .
^ Sevenson, Sinclair (30 October 1994). "Keeping his gin, not his chin, up" . The Guardian . Retrieved 8 April 2015 .
^ Kane, Russell. " 'Evelyn Waugh: A Biography', by Selina Hastings – review" . The Spectator . Retrieved 8 April 2015 .
^ Clark, Alex (7 June 2002). "O I must tell Osbert!" . The Guardian . Retrieved 8 April 2015 .
^ Picardie, Justine (15 June 2002). "A problem with beauty" . The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 8 April 2015 .
^ Leavitt, David (22 July 2010). "Lives of the Novelists: Somerset Maugham" . The New York Times . Retrieved 8 April 2015 .
^ Sansom, Ian (18 September 2009). "The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham by Selina Hastings" . The Guardian . Retrieved 8 April 2015 .
^ Dirda, Michael (20 May 2010). "Selina Hastings's 'The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham,' reviewed by Michael Dirda" . The Washington Post . Retrieved 8 April 2015 .
^ Rayner, Richard (30 May 2010). "Book review: 'The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham' by Selina Hastings" . Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 8 April 2015 .
^ "Royal Society of Literature, RSL Fellows" . RSLiterature.org. Retrieved 1 April 2015 .
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