ABOUT NICOLETTE
Nicolette Jones is a writer, journalist and broadcaster who has worked for all the national broadsheets and the book-trade press. Her book about the Victorian philanthropist Samuel Plimsoll and his campaign on behalf of sailors, The Plimsoll Sensation (Little, Brown/Abacus), was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, received widespread critical acclaim, and won maritime literature prizes in the UK and USA.
Background
Nicolette is an artist’s daughter. She and her sister spent their youth among working painters and sculptors who were their parents’ friends, colleagues and students. Their father taught Fine Art at Leeds University (see Nicolette’s website www.johnedwardjones.co.uk for his own work, biography and interests).
Nicolette studied English literature at St Hilda’s College, Oxford and spent a year on a Henry Fellowship in the Graduate School of English at Yale University.
She has two adult children and lives in London.
Her husband Nicholas Clee is also an award-winning writer and journalist.
Specialising in literary and arts journalism, Nicolette has long written about children’s literature for The Sunday Times, and has frequently been a judge of prizes from the Orange (now Women’s) prize for fiction to children’s book awards. She regularly chairs events, and has directed the children’s programme at the Oxford Literary Festival. In 2012 she was shortlisted for the Eleanor Farjeon award for her ‘outstanding contribution to the world of children’s books’. She was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2022.
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![Nicolette Jones Honorary Fellow Royal Society of Literature]()
Royal Society of Literature Honorary Fellow
Elected 2022
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![Nicolette Jones Wins Mountbatten Maritime Prize for The Plimsoll Sensation]()
Mountbatten Maritime Prize for The Plimsoll Sensation
Winner 2006
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![Nicolette Jones Shortlisted For Eleanor Farjeon Award]()
Eleanor Farjeon Award
Nominated in 2012
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![Nicolette Jones Appointed Royal Literary Fund Fellow]()
Royal Literary Fund Fellow
Appointed in 2009
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![Nicolette Jones International Winner, US Maritime Literature Awards]()
US Maritime Literature Awards
International Winner 2007
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![Nicolette Jones Blooming Books nominated for British Book Awards Illustrated Book of the Year]()
British Book Awards - Illustrated Book of the Year
Blooming Books nominated in 2003
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![Nicolette Jones 2012 Made an honorary member of the Royal Naval Reserve Officers’ Dining Club]()
Royal Naval Reserve Officers’ Dining Club
Honorary Member since 2012
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![Nicolette Jones 1989 Runner-up for the Catherine Pakenham Award]()
Catherine Pakenham Award
Runner-up 1989
Professional chair of literary events.
Nicolette Jones, Emma Bridgewater and Lauren Child at the Stoke Literary Festival