Desmond Alexander Hawkins

Background

Desmond Hawkins was born on October 20, 1908, in East Sheen, England.

Education

Hawkins dropped out of school as a teenager and had no formal literary training.

Career

Although Hawkins had no formal literary training, he went on to publish literary criticism on Thomas Hardy’s works and wrote several novels. He worked in his father’s hardware business for five years after leaving school. The author was inspired to write after seeing a production of a D.H. Lawrence work. Hawkins wrote for several literary magazines and eventually served as literary editor of New English Weekly. Beginning in 1936 Hawkins wrote for BBC programming; he published a successful novel in 1939. In the 1950s the author wrote for television and dramatized works of Thomas Hardy. He later wrote several books about Hardy and headed a programs department for the BBC. Writings include Shelley’s First Love (1992), The Grove Diaries (1995), and Dorset Bedside Book (1996).

Achievements

• As well as developing wildlife programmes for radio and TV, Desmond dramatized five of Thomas Hardy's major novels as serials and enlarged Hardy's global impact. His version of The Return of the Native won the Society of Authors' Radio Award for the best dramatization of 1976. In 1978, he dramatized The Woodlanders to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Hardy's death, and this again won the award for the year's best dramatization.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Poetry and Prose of John Donne 1955
  • War Report: From D-Day to Berlin, as it happened 2014
  • Concerning Agnes: Thomas Hardy 1982
  • Hawk Among the Sparrows 1945
  • Cranborne Chase 1998
  • Dorset Bedside Book 1996
  • Avalon and Sedgemoor 1983
  • Wessex: A literary celebration 1991
  • Thomas Hardy: His Life and Landscape 1990
  • War report: D-day to VE-day 1985
  • Hardy: Novelist and Poet 1981
  • No Future 1993
  • The Grove Diaries: The Rise and Fall of an English Family 1809-1925 1995

Membership

In 1977, Hawkins was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.