Writing Home & Untold Stories

Writing Home brings together Alan Bennett's diaries for 1980-1995, with reminiscences and reviews, the diary he kept during the production of his very first play, Forty Years On, which starred John Gielgud, together with hilarious accounts of his many television plays, notably An Englishman Abroad and A Private Function.

At the heart of the book is The Lady in the Van, the true account of Miss Mary Shepherd, a homeless tramp who took up residence in Bennett's garden and stayed for fifteen years.

From his now-legendary address at Russell Harty's memorial service to recollections of growing up in Leeds,Writing Home gives us a unique and unforgettable portrait of one of England's leading playwrights. Untold Stories contains new unpublished diaries, as well as a poignant memoir of his family and of growing up in Leeds, together with his much celebrated diary for the years 1996-2004,and numerous other exceptional essays, reviews and comic pieces.

Since the success of Beyond the Fringe in the 1960s Alan Bennett has delighted audiences worldwide with his gentle humour and wry observations about life.

His many works include Forty Years On, The Lady in the Van, Talking Heads, A Question of Attribution and The Madness of George III.

Bennett's most recent play, The History Boys, opened to great acclaim at at the National in 2004, and is winner of the Evening Standard Award, the South Bank Award and the Critics' Circle Award for Best New Play.

It came to Sydney in March 2006 and was also made into a hugely successful feature film.