Richard Beard

Richard James Beard (born 12 January 1967) is an English novelist, non-fiction writer and teacher born in Swindon, England. He is Director of The National Academy of Writing in London.

Beard’s first novel, X20, A Novel of Not Smoking, an exploration of 'the nature of human frontiers, the boundaries between ego and intimacy'. was published by HarperCollins in 1996, and in 1997 was a New York Times Summer Reading Selection. His second novel Damascus, published in 1998, investigates 'the leap of faith that transmutes ordinary life into the condition of ecstasy, the condition of being wholly and transcendentally in love', and was a New York Time Notable Book in 1999. Both these novels are influenced by the principles of the OuLiPo. His other novels include The Cartoonist (2000) which uses 'an artificial, Oulipo-type constraint to illustrate a real-life constraint on the imagination', and Dry Bones (2004), a study of 'the big issues of personal accountability and civic responsibility'. More recently, he has published two retellings of biblical stories. Lazarus is Dead, published in 2011, which retraces the relationship between Jesus and Lazarus, is described as 'a shining example of the gospel untruth'. Acts of the Assassins, published in 2015, 'the story of Jesus’s death and resurrection, and the subsequent martyrdom of all the disciples, one by one' was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize the same year.

His first work of non-fiction, Muddied Oafs, The Last Days of Rugger (2003) traces the changes to the game of Rugby Union in the wake of professionalisation, reflecting 'in an elegiac, fascinating and insightful book that rugby, with its emphasis on team-work and a stoical acceptance of pain and rejection, is a good preparation for life'. It was longlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award. Manly Pursuits (2006) m retitled for the paperback edition as How To Beat the Australians, tells of how 'his sense of athletic inferiority lead him to travel to the Sydney suburb of Manly to examine what makes Australians so competitive'. Becoming Drusilla, the story of long-time friend Dru who underwent gender reassignment, was published by Harvill Secker in 2008., was reviewed by the Mail'. All these non-fiction works contain elements of autobiography and travel writing.

• X20, A Novel of Not Smoking (1996), ISBN 978-1559703994
• Damascus (1998), ISBN 978-0006497912
• The Cartoonist (2000), ISBN 978-0747553311
• Muddied Oafs, The Last Days of Rugger (2003), ISBN 978-0224063944
• Dry Bones (2004), ISBN 978-0099459255
• Manly Pursuits (2006), ISBN 978-0224075114
• Becoming Drusilla (2008), ISBN 978-0099507734
• Lazarus is Dead (2011), ISBN 978-1609450809
• Acts of the Assassins (2015), ISBN 978-1846558399