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Lisa St Aubin de Terán

リサ・セント・オーブン・デ・テラン

Lisa St Aubin de Terán

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1953-10-02 （Clapham, London, England）
Nationality
British
Languages
English
Residence History
Clapham, London → Wiggenhall St. Mary Magdalen, Norfolk → Umbria, Italy → Amsterdam, Netherlands → Mossuril, Nampula Province, Mozambique → London (returned 2021)

Career

Occupations
novelist, essayist, memoirist, travel writer
Active Years
1980-

Education

James Allen's Girls' School
Country: United Kingdom
Attended a London independent girls' school

Awards

Somerset Maugham Award
1982
Work: Keepers of the House
Organization: Society of Authors
Result: Won
Eric Gregory Award
1983
Work: Poetry
Organization: Society of Authors
Result: Won
John Llewellyn Rhys Prize
1983
Work: The Slow Train to Milan
Organization: John Llewellyn Rhys Prize
Result: Won

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Keepers of the House

1982 Novel

Her first major novel, dealing with family, homecoming and identity; published under variant titles in some markets.

familyhomecomingidentity

The Slow Train to Milan

1983 Novel

A novel that sketches human relations through journeys and rail travel; winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize.

travelrelationshipschange

The Hacienda: My Venezuelan Years

1997 Memoir

A memoir recounting her young marriage and years in rural Venezuela, including the difficulties that led to her departure.

love and marriageviolence and escapeLatin America

Venice: The Four Seasons

1991 Travelogue

An essayistic travelogue about Venice across the four seasons, mixing photographs and descriptive prose.

landscapeseasonalityculture

Otto

2005 Novel

A family-centered novel involving a child at its heart; published in the U.S. as 'Swallowing Stones.'

familycoming of ageresponsibility

Mozambique Mysteries

2007 Memoir / Travel

Accounts of life in northern Mozambique and the activities of the Terán Foundation.

Africaphilanthropycommunity

Better Broken Than New

2024 Memoir

A recent autobiographical work in which the author reflects on her life and literary career.

autobiographyrecollectionwriting life

The Hobby

2024 Novel

A 2024 novel; see publisher information for details.

Bibliography

  • The Streak (1980)
  • Keepers of the House (1982)
  • The Slow Train to Milan (1983)
  • The Tiger (1984)
  • The Bay of Silence (1986)
  • Black Idol (1987)
  • The Marble Mountain and other stories (1989)
  • Off the Rails: Memoirs of a Train Addict (1989)
  • Venice: The Four Seasons (1991)
  • Nocturne (1992)
  • A Valley in Italy: Confessions of a House Addict (1994)
  • The Hacienda: My Venezuelan Years (1997)
  • The Palace (1997)
  • Southpaw (1999)
  • Memory Maps (2002)
  • Otto (2005)
  • Mozambique Mysteries (2007)
  • Better Broken Than New (2024)
  • The Hobby (2024)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
autobiographical fiction blended with memoirdetailed landscape and house descriptionstravelogue-style narration
Recurring Motifs
travelhouses (villas, haciendas)memory and revisiting the pastItalian and Latin American landscapes

Legacy

Lisa St Aubin de Terán is a British writer known for autobiographical fiction and travel writing. After early literary awards she continued publishing widely and engaged in philanthropic work in Mozambique through the Terán Foundation.

Trivia

  • She entered a first marriage at 16 and lived on a hacienda in Venezuela, experiences that inform her writing.
  • Winner of the Somerset Maugham Award (1982) and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize (1983).
  • Founded the Terán Foundation in 2004 to support communities in northern Mozambique.
  • Has been married three times; daughter Iseult Teran is also a novelist.