Editing Posy Simmonds

{{Short description|British cartoonist, writer and illustrator}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox comics creator
| image       = Posy Simmonds 20181129.jpg
| caption     = Simmonds at [[Hatchards]], London, November 2018
| birth_name  = Rosemary Elizabeth Simmonds
| birth_date  = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1945|08|09}}
| birth_place = [[Berkshire]], England
| death_date  =
| death_place =
| area          = [[Cartoonist]]<br />Illustrator<br />Writer
| alias         =
| signature     =
| notable works = ''[[Gemma Bovery]]''<br />''[[Tamara Drewe]]''
| awards        = [[Order of the British Empire|MBE]], [[Prix de la critique]], [[British Comic Awards]] Hall of Fame (2014)
}}
'''Rosemary Elizabeth''' "'''Posy'''" '''Simmonds''' [[Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire|MBE]], [[Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature|FRSL]] (born 9 August 1945) is a British newspaper [[cartoonist]], and writer and illustrator of both [[Children's literature|children's books]] and [[graphic novels]]. She is best known for her long association with ''[[The Guardian]]'', for which she drew the series ''[[Gemma Bovery]]'' (2000) and ''[[Tamara Drewe]]'' (2005–06), both later published as books.<ref>{{cite web|date=4 November 2007|title=Paul Gravett interviewing Posy Simmonds|url=http://www.paulgravett.com/index.php/articles/article/posy_simmonds/}}</ref> Her style gently satirises the [[Social structure of Britain#20th century|English middle classes]] and in particular those of a literary bent. Both ''Gemma Bovery'' and ''Tamara Drew'' feature a "doomed heroine", much in the style of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century [[Gothic novel|gothic romantic novel]], to which they often allude, but with an ironic, modernist slant.

==Early life==
Posy Simmonds was born in [[Berkshire]] on 9 August 1945, the daughter of Reginald A. C. Simmonds and Betty Cahusac.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Simmonds, Posy, (born 9 Aug. 1945), freelance illustrator/cartoonist, since 1969|url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-34878|access-date=2021-08-09|website=WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO|year=2007|language=en|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U34878|isbn=978-0-19-954088-4}}</ref> Her brother is the Conservative politician [[Richard Simmonds]]. She was educated at [[Queen Anne's School]], [[Caversham, Berkshire|Caversham]]. She studied at the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]] before returning to London to attend [[Central School of Art & Design]], where she received a BA in Art and Design.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/2045620.stm |title=BBC News, June 2002 |publisher=BBC News |date=14 June 2002 |access-date=5 August 2009}}</ref> In 1974, she married [[Richard Hollis|Richard Graham Hollis]].<ref name=":0" />

== Career ==
Simmonds started her newspaper career drawing a daily cartoon, "Bear", for ''[[The Sun (United Kingdom)|The Sun]]'' in 1969. She contributed humorous illustrations to ''[[The Times]]'' from 1968 to 1970. She also contributed to ''[[Cosmopolitan (magazine)|Cosmopolitan]]'', and a satirical cartoon to [[Tariq Ali]]'s ''[[The Black Dwarf (newspaper)|Black Dwarf]]'' magazine. She moved to ''The Guardian'' as an illustrator in 1972.

In May 1977 she started drawing a weekly comic strip for ''The Guardian'', initially titled ''The Silent Three of St Botolph's'' as a tribute to the 1950s strip ''[[The Silent Three]]'' by [[Evelyn Flinders]]. It began as a silly parody of girls' adventure stories making satirical comments about contemporary life. The strip soon focused on three 1950s schoolfriends in their later, middle-class and nearly middle-aged lives: Wendy Weber, a former nurse married to [[polytechnic (United Kingdom)|polytechnic]] sociology lecturer George with a large brood of children; Jo Heep, married to whisky salesman Edmund with two rebellious teenagers; and Trish Wright, married to philandering advertising executive Stanhope and with a young baby. The strip, which was latterly untitled and usually known just as "Posy", ran until the late 1980s. It was collected into a number of books: ''Mrs Weber's Diary'', ''Pick of Posy'', ''Very Posy'' and ''Pure Posy'', and one original book featuring the same characters, ''True Love''. Her later cartoons for ''The Guardian'' and ''[[The Spectator]]'' were collected as ''Mustn't Grumble'' in 1993.

In 1981, Simmonds was named Cartoonist of the Year<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/2045620.stm |title=Simmonds's satirical touch |publisher=BBC News |date=14 June 2002 |access-date=5 August 2009}}</ref> in the [[British Press Awards]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pressawards.org.uk/page-view.php?pagename=1980-1989-Winners|title=Press Awards Winners 1980 - 1989|access-date=9 July 2015}}</ref> In 1982 and 1983 she contributed a regular full-page strip to ''[[Harper's Magazine]]'' in America. In 1987 Simmonds turned her hand to writing, as well as illustrating, children's books. ''Fred'', the story of a cat with a secret life, was later filmed as ''[[Famous Fred]]'' and nominated for the [[Academy Award for Animated Short Film]] and several [[BAFTA]]s. Her other children's books include ''Lulu and the Flying Babies'', ''The Chocolate Wedding'' and ''Lavender''.

In the late 1990s Simmonds returned to the pages of ''The Guardian'' with ''[[Gemma Bovery]]'', which reworked the story of [[Gustave Flaubert]]'s ''[[Madame Bovary]]'' into a satirical tale of English expatriates in France. It was published as a graphic novel in 1999 and was made into a feature film of the same name ([[Gemma Bovery (film)|Gemma Bovery]]), directed by [[Anne Fontaine]], in 2014, and starring [[Gemma Arterton]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Posy Simmonds lecture|url=https://thefalmouthschoolofart.wordpress.com/2015/03/02/posy-simmonds-lecture-wednesday-4-march-5pm/|date=2 March 2015|author=The Falmouth School of Art|access-date=10 July 2015}}</ref> The ''Literary Life'' series of cartoons appeared in ''The Guardian'''s "Review" section on Saturdays from November 2002 until December 2004, and was published in book form in 2003 (''Literary Life'') and, in an expanded version, in 2017 (''Literary Life Revisited'').

Simmond's 2005-6 ''Guardian'' series, ''[[Tamara Drewe]]'', which echoes [[Thomas Hardy]]'s novel ''[[Far from the Madding Crowd|Far From the Madding Crowd]]'', made its début in the Review section on 17 September 2005, in the first Saturday paper after the ''Guardian'''s relaunch in the [[Berliner (format)|Berliner format]]. It ended, with episode 109 and an epilogue, on 2 December 2006 and was published as a book in 2007. In 2010 the story was adapted as a [[Tamara Drewe (film)|feature film of the same name]], directed by [[Stephen Frears]] from a screenplay by [[Moira Buffini]], again starring [[Gemma Arterton]].<ref>[http://www.scotsman.com/news/interview-posy-simmonds-cartoonist-1-477855 "Interview: Posy Simmonds, cartoonist"], ''The Scotsman'', 4 September 2010.</ref>

Simmonds' third, critically acclaimed graphic novel, ''Cassandra Darke'', was published in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-11-07 |title=Cassandra Darke by Posy Simmonds review – a Christmas Carol for our time |url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/nov/07/cassandra-darke-by-posy-simmonds-review |access-date=2022-12-06 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Lowdon |first=Claire |title=Review: Cassandra Darke by Posy Simmonds — a gripping Christmas tale from the author of Tamara Drewe |newspaper=[[The Times]] |language=en |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/review-cassandra-darke-by-posy-simmonds-a-gripping-christmas-tale-from-the-author-of-tamara-drewe-76lpsfz6b |access-date=2022-12-06 |issn=0140-0460}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2018-11-02 |title=Cassandra Darke by Posy Simmonds — snob appeal |work=Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/5b01669a-d6d2-11e8-aa22-36538487e3d0 |access-date=2022-12-06}}</ref> It is loosely based on [[Charles Dickens]]' novella ''[[A Christmas Carol]]''; although the story unfolds in 2016-17, its eponymous protagonist is in some respects a female version of Ebenezer Scrooge, and also undergoes a profound (though more subtle and ambiguous) moral transformation.

Simmonds drew the illustrations for the opening titles of the [[BBC]]'s 2007 production of [[Elizabeth Gaskell]]'s ''[[Cranford (2007 TV series)|Cranford]]'', and for ''Midsummer Nights'', a volume of opera-related short stories by prominent writers published in 2009 to mark the 75th anniversary of the [[Glyndebourne Festival Opera|Glyndebourne Opera Festival]]. She was made a [[Member of the Order of the British Empire]] in 2002 for services to the newspaper industry.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2045620.stm "Simmonds's satirical touch"], ''BBC News'', 14 June 2002.</ref> After being nominated already in 2001 for ''Gemma Bovery'', Simmonds won the 2009 [[Prix de la critique]] of the French [[Association des Critiques et des journalistes de Bande Dessinée|Association of comics critics and journalists]] for ''Tamara Drewe''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.acbd.fr/laureat-2009.html |title=Lauréat 2009 |access-date=19 March 2009 |date=December 2008 |publisher=[[Association des Critiques et des journalistes de Bande Dessinée|ACBD]] |language=fr |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090622155751/http://www.acbd.fr/laureat-2009.html |archive-date=22 June 2009 }}</ref> In 2022 she was awarded the ''Grand Prix Töpffer'' (named after [[Rodolphe Töpffer]], the author of the earliest comic strips) by the city of Geneva, Switzerland.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.tdg.ch/posy-simmonds-recevra-le-grand-prix-toepffer-425732025370 | title=Bande dessinée – Posy Simmonds recevra le Grand Prix Töpffer | date=29 September 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.ville-ge.ch/prixtopffer/grand-prix-topffer.html | title=Les prix Rodolphe Töpffer - Département de la culture et de la transition numérique - Ville de Genève }}</ref> In 2024 she was awarded the [[Grand Prix de la ville d'Angoulême]], being the first British cartoonist to do so.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2024-01-24 |title=Posy Simmonds wins Grand Prix at Angoulême Comics Festival |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/books/article/2024/01/24/posy-simmonds-wins-grand-prix-at-angouleme-comics-festival_6462295_33.html |access-date=2024-01-24 |work=Le Monde.fr |language=en}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
* ''The Posy Simmonds Bear Book'' (1969)
* ''Bear'' (1974)
* ''More Bear'' (1975)
* ''Mrs Weber's Diary'' (1979)
* ''True Love'' (1981)
* ''Pick of Posy'' (1982)
* ''Very Posy'' (1985)
* ''Pure Posy'' (1987)
* ''Mustn't Grumble'' (1993)
* ''Gemma Bovery'' (1999)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Simmonds |first1=Posy |title=Gemma Bovery |date=1999 |publisher=London : Jonathan Cape |isbn=0224052519}}</ref>
* ''Literary Life'' (2003)
* ''Tamara Drewe ''(2007)<ref>[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/11/03/briefly-noted-933 "Briefly Noted,"] ''The New Yorker'' (3 November 2008).</ref>
* ''Cassandra Darke'' (2018)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Simmonds |first1=Posy |title=Cassandra Darke |date=2018 |publisher=Jonathan Cape |location=London |isbn=9780224089098}}</ref>

===Children's books===
* ''Fred'' (1987)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Simmonds |first1=Posy |title=Fred |date=1987 |publisher=London : Cape |isbn=0224024485}}</ref>
* ''Lulu and the Flying Babies'' (1988)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Simmonds |first1=Posy |title=Lulu and the flying babies |date=1991 |publisher=Place of publication not identified : Puffin |isbn=0140543678}}</ref>
* ''The Chocolate Wedding'' (1990)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Simmonds |first1=Posy |title=The Chocolate Wedding |date=1993 |publisher=Place of publication not identified : Picture Puffins |isbn=014054531X |edition=new}}</ref>
* ''Matilda: Who Told Lies and Was Burned To Death'' (1991)
* ''Bouncing Buffalo'' (1994)
*''F-Freezing ABC'' (1996)
* ''Cautionary Tales And Other Verses'' (1997)
* ''Mr Frost'' (2001, in ''Little Litt'' #2)
* ''Lavender'' (2003)
* ''Baker Cat'' (2004)

==Television/film scripts==
* ''The Frog Prince'' (1984)
* ''Tresoddit for Easter'' (1991)
* ''Famous Fred'' (1996)

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commonscat}}
* [https://www.theguardian.com/books/series/tamara-drewe ''Tamara Drewe'' The Guardian archive]
* [http://books.guardian.co.uk/posysimmonds ''Literary Life'' archive]
* [http://www.lambiek.net/artists/s/simmonds_posy.htm Lambiek comiclopedia entry on Posy Simmonds]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040408103100/http://magicpencil.britishcouncil.org/artists/simmonds/ Profile from the British Council's "Magic Pencil" exhibition]
* [http://www.itvlocal.com/anglia/locallife/?player=ANG_LocalLife_15&void=188059 Posy Simmonds talks drawing, writing and Tamara Drewe with ITV Local Anglia]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070317235828/http://specials.slate.com/clive-james/#1137697603.1 Clive James interview with Posy Simmonds]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/desertislanddiscs_20080629.shtml BBC Radio 4, ''Desert Island Discs''], first broadcast on 29 June 2008
* [http://www.paulgravett.com/index.php/articles/article/posy_simmonds/ Paul Gravett interview]
* [https://archive.today/20121130051754/https://secure.svr9-speedyservers.com/~mslexia/magazine/interviews/interview_37.html MsLexia profile/interview]
* [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3668684/Posy-Simmonds-the-invisible-woman.html ''Telegraph'' profile/interview]
* [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/nov/09/comics ''Guardian'' profile/interview]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110615230001/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article2869893.ece "Tamara Drewe's Wessex]: an article in the ''[http://www.the-tls.co.uk TLS]'' by Mick Imlah, 14 November 2007

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simmonds, Posy}}
[[Category:1945 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Central School of Art and Design]]
[[Category:Artists from Berkshire]]
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