Martin Stannard's reputation as a literary biographer rests on his two-volume study of Evelyn Waugh, The Early Years 1903-1939 (1986), and No Abiding City 1939-1966 (1992). His success in re-creating the complicated personality of his subject has been widely acclaimed, and his work is already one of the standard points of reference for anyone interested in the life and writings of Evelyn Waugh. Stannard's work as a biographer is part of his academic career, but his careful scholarship is combined with a strong sense of narrative and a fine prose style, which have attracted a large general readership as well as a specialist audience. He has also reviewed many recent lives of twentieth-century literary figures, thus developing his own views on biography as a distinct form through his assessments of fellow writers.

Martin Stannard was born on 25 October 1947, in Harrow, on the outskirts of London. He was educated in Sussex...