This Artistic Life is a new anthology by Barry Hines, the author of Kes (A Kestral for a Knave). These short stories, many previously unpublished, cover sport and reflections on his home village of Hoyland Common in Barnsley, its landscape and the colourful characters that people it. Most of the pieces were written at the same time as his seminal novel which has been a staple of English literature for 40 years. Also included is a series of poems, both whimsical and profound, and reflections on Hines' work by younger writers, Richard Benson and Mark Hodkinson..
Author
Barry Hines (June 30, 1939 – March 18, 2016) was an English author, playwright, and screenwriter. His novels and screenplays explore the political and economic struggles of working-class Northern England, particularly in his native West Riding / South Yorkshire. He is best known for the novel A Kestrel for a Knave (1968), which he helped adapt for Ken Loach's film Kes (1969). He also collaborated with Loach on adaptations of his novels Looks and Smiles (1981) and The Gamekeeper, and a 1977 two-part television drama adaption of his book The Price of Coal. He also wrote the television film Threads, which depicts the impact of a nuclear war on Sheffield.
