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Tom Rob Smith

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Tom Rob Smith
Smith at the 2013 Frankfurt Book Fair
Smith at the 2013 Frankfurt Book Fair
Born1979 (age 44–45)[1]
London, England
OccupationNovelist, screenwriter, producer
GenreThriller, Mystery

Tom Rob Smith (born 1979[2]) is an English author, screenwriter and producer.

Personal life and education

The son of Swedish mother Barbro and English father Ron, both antiques dealers,[3] Smith was born and raised at Norbury, South London.[4] He went to school at Dulwich College between the years of 1987 and 1997.[5] Following his graduation from St John's College, Cambridge, in 2001, he received the Harper Wood Studentship for English Poetry and Literature and continued his Creative Writing studies for a year at Parvin University, in Italy.[6] He was formerly the partner of Ben Stephenson.[7][8][9]

Career

After completing his studies, Smith worked as a writer and a script editor, including a stint with the BBC. Among his projects was story-lining Cambodia's first soap opera, set in Phnom Penh.[10]

His first novel, Child 44, published in early 2008, was inspired by the true-life case of Andrei Chikatilo, who committed a series of child murders in Soviet Russia. It was awarded the 2008 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for best thriller of the year by the Crime Writers' Association, named on the long list for the 2008 Man Booker Prize, and nominated for the 2008 Costa First Novel Award (former Whitbread). In July 2009, he won the Waverton Good Read Award for first novels and the Galaxy Book Award for Best Newcomer with Child 44. It has been translated into 36 languages and in January 2011, Richard Madeley and Judy Finnegan listed it in their Book Club "100 Books of the Decade".[11] In 2007, Ridley Scott optioned the film rights.[12]

Fox 2000 bought the project. A film based on the novel was announced in 2009, with Ridley Scott originally attached as both director and producer.[13] Child 44 (2015) was produced by Scott and his longtime production collaborator Michael Costigan, via Scott Free Productions, and directed by Daniel Espinosa (who had directed Safe House (2012)). Child 44 stars Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, Charles Dance, and Joel Kinnaman.[14]

Smith's sequel to Child 44, The Secret Speech, was published in April 2009, and the final novel in the trilogy, Agent 6, was published in July 2011.[15] Smith's fourth book, a standalone novel entitled The Farm, was published in February 2014.[16]

Smith also wrote a drama television series, London Spy, which was first broadcast on BBC Two in November 2015.

Smith was selected as executive producer and writer for season 2 of American Crime Story, an FX true crime anthology series. It is titled The Assassination of Gianni Versace and explores the murder of designer Gianni Versace by serial killer Andrew Cunanan.[17]

Bibliography

  • Child 44 (2008). ISBN 978-1847371263 (Book 1 in the Child 44 Trilogy)
  • The Secret Speech (2009). ISBN 978-1847371287 (Book 2 in the Child 44 Trilogy)
  • Agent 6 (2011). ISBN 978-1847375674 (Book 3 in the Child 44 Trilogy)
  • The Farm (2014). ISBN 978-1847375698

Filmography

See also

  • Citizen X (1995), a made-for-TV film portraying the investigation of the Soviet serial killer Andrei Chikatilo
  • The Gulag Archipelago (1958 and 1968), a three-volume book by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn about the Soviet forced labour camp system
  • The Killer Department (1993), Robert Cullen's non-fiction book, adapted as Citizen X

References

  1. ^ "Tom Rob Smith Biography". BookBrowse. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
  2. ^ "Tom Rob Smith Biography". BookBrowse. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
  3. ^ https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tom-rob-smith-a-family-at-war-5clvlc59ml7
  4. ^ https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/mar/02/crimebooks.features
  5. ^ "Tom Rob Smith Biography". BookBrowse. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
  6. ^ "Tom Rob Smith's official biography".
  7. ^ Midgley, Neil (8 April 2009). "Interview: Ben Stephenson on the future of BBC drama". Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  8. ^ Spence, Alex. "BBC buys thriller series by drama chief's boyfriend". Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  9. ^ "Bad Robot's TV Chief on 'Westworld' Impact, 'Castle Rock' Ambitions and What's Next | Hollywood Reporter". www.hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  10. ^ Gurrtidge, Peter (2 March 2008). "In pursuit of a Russian Ripper: Tom Rob Smith tells how his tale of a Russian mass murderer sparked a furious bidding war". The Observer. London.
  11. ^ "Tom Rob Smith Child 44 Foreign and Awards". Curtis Brown.
  12. ^ Film News. "Ridley Scott Adopts Child 44". Time Out. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012.
  13. ^ "Child 44 Movie". Themovieinsider.com. 7 May 2007. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
  14. ^ [1]
  15. ^ "Agent 6 Synopsis". curtisbrown.co.uk.
  16. ^ Smith, Tom Rob (2014). "The Farm". Curtis Brown. UK: Curtis Brown.
  17. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (2016). "'American Crime Story' Renewed By FX For Season 3, Will Take On Versace Murder". US: Deadline Hollywood.

Further reading

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