World Literary Awards

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Sue Prideaux

スー・プライドー

Sū Puraidō

Profile

Gender
Female
Nationality
British, Norwegian
Languages
English, Norwegian
Residence History
United Kingdom → Norway

Career

Occupations
novelist, biographer, non-fiction writer
Active Years
1997-
Affiliations
New Statesman (contributor)
Influenced By
Edvard Munch, August Strindberg, Friedrich Nietzsche, Paul Gauguin, Thore Heramb

Education

—
Art History
Studied art history

Awards

James Tait Black Memorial Prize
2005
Work: Edvard Munch: Behind the Scream
Category: 伝記
Organization: University of Edinburgh (James Tait Black Memorial Prize)
Result: 受賞
Samuel Johnson Prize
2012
Work: Strindberg: A Life
Category: 伝記
Organization: Samuel Johnson Prize committee
Result: 最終候補
Duff Cooper Prize
2012
Work: Strindberg: A Life
Category: 伝記
Organization: The Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize
Result: 受賞
Hawthornden Prize
2019
Work: I Am Dynamite! A Life of Nietzsche
Category: 伝記
Organization: Hawthornden Prize committee
Result: 受賞
Baillie Gifford Prize
2024
Work: Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin
Category: 伝記
Organization: Baillie Gifford (Baillie Gifford Prize)
Result: 最終候補
Duff Cooper Prize
2025
Work: Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin
Category: 伝記
Organization: The Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Rude Mechanicals

1997 novel

An early novel by Prideaux, published as one of her first major works of fiction.

fictionearly work

Magnetic North

1998 novel

A novel from the late 1990s, touching on themes of place and northern (Nordic) concerns.

Nordic themessense of place

Edvard Munch: Behind the Scream

2005 biography

A biography of the painter Edvard Munch, examining his life, work, and the context behind signature pieces such as The Scream.

artist biographyexpressionismcreativity and madness

Thore Heramb

2006 biography

A biographical study of the Norwegian painter Thore Heramb.

Norwegian artartist study

Strindberg: A Life

2012 biography

A biography of playwright August Strindberg, exploring his life, works, personal relationships, and intellectual influences.

playwright biographyNordic literaturepersonal history and creativity

I Am Dynamite! A Life of Nietzsche

2018 biography

A biography of Friedrich Nietzsche, focusing on his life, the development of his thought, and his eventual mental collapse.

intellectual historyphilosopher biographymadness and creativity

Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin

2024 biography

A recent biography of Paul Gauguin, reassessing the artist through his work, travels, and controversial personal life.

artist biographycolonialism and artethics of creativity

Bibliography

  • Rude Mechanicals, Abacus, 1997
  • Magnetic North, Little, Brown, 1998
  • Edvard Munch: Behind the Scream, Yale University Press, 2005
  • Thore Heramb, Labyrinth, 2006
  • Strindberg: A Life, Yale University Press, 2012
  • I Am Dynamite! A Life of Nietzsche, Tim Duggan Books, 2018
  • Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin, W. W. Norton, 2024

Style & Themes

Literary Style
biographical non-fictionnarrative-driven biographyscholarly yet literary prose
Recurring Motifs
psychology of artistsrelationship between creativity and madnessinterest in Nordic culture

Legacy

Sue Prideaux is an internationally recognized biographer known for works on Munch, Strindberg, Nietzsche and Gauguin. She has won several major literary prizes and is noted for combining scholarly research with literary prose.

Trivia

  • Her grandmother was a muse to the explorer Roald Amundsen.
  • Her godmother was painted by Edvard Munch; Prideaux later wrote a biography of Munch.
  • Some of her work has appeared in the New Statesman.
  • She has won several major biography prizes (James Tait Black, Duff Cooper, Hawthornden, etc.).