Fiction writer and dramatist. Barstow, who was born in the West Riding of Yorkshire, comes from a coal mining background. He attended Ossett Grammar School, then began writing in the 1950s. Along with Alan Sillitoe, John Braine and Keth Waterhouse he is considered one of the pioneers of the 1960s school of northern literary realism. His first great success was the novel A Kind of Loving, which became a film directed by John Schlesinger and starring Alan Bates. Since then he has produced eleven novels and three books of short stories, many set in the fictional mining town of Cressley, as well as TV scripts and material for the radio and theatre. Other novels include Ask Me Tomorrow (1962), The Watchers on the Shore (1966) and The Right True End (1976). He frequently attends public events in Ossett, where he grew up, and Horbury, his birthplace. His other works include Joby, which was turned into a television play starring Patrick Stewart. Stan moved from Yorkshire to Pontardawe south Wales in 2000 and in April 2008, the four-part television drama Calon Gaeth which Stan co-wrote with Diana Griffiths won a Welsh BAFTA for best drama. This was dramatised from the novel A Small Country by Sian James. Stan is a Fellow of Academi.
'In the five decades since its initial publication, A Kind of Loving has lost none of its power; indeed, its contemporary relevance is astonishing. Barstow's work, in its empathetic anger and passion and integrity, has long been a hope and a beacon for the socially engaged and politically committed writer and reader and this re-issue of one of the last century's finest novels is not only a boon but a necessity. Such is the mark of great and imperishable literature.' Niall Griffiths '...warmth, liveliness, honesty, compassion...' Sunday Times
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