William Palmer was born in 1945 and educated at schools in England and Wales, and at the College of Advanced Technology in Birmingham. He began writing at the age of fifteen but only became a full-time writer in the 1980s. His first novel, The Good Republic, was published by Secker and Warburg in 1990 and since then he has had a further five novels, a collection of short stories, and four books of poetry published. Two of the novels (The Good Republic and The Pardon of Saint Anne) and the short stories (Four Last Things) were republished by Faber in 2009.

Stories and poems have appeared in many journals, including The Dark Horse, London Magazine, Manhattan Review, Poetry Review, Rialto, The Shop, The Spectator, Stand and the Times Literary Supplement, and have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and 4. He has reviewed regularly for the Independent, Literary Review, Poetry Review, Slightly Foxed and other journals.

 In 1997 he was awarded the Travelling Scholarship of the Society of Authors. His book of poems, The Island Rescue, was awarded the First Collection prize at the Listowel Writers’ Week literary festival in 2006. He was a Writing Fellow at the University of Birmingham, 2000-2003, at the University of Warwick, 2005-2007, and at King’s College, London, 2011-2012.

Published Works:

FICTION

The Good Republic (Secker and Warburg 1990, Viking USA 1991, Faber 2009)
Leporello (Secker and Warburg 1992)
The Contract (Jonathan Cape 1995)
The Pardon of Saint Anne (Jonathan Cape 1996, Faber 2009)
Four Last Things (Secker and Warburg 1997, Faber 2009)
The India House (Jonathan Cape, 2005)
The Devil is White (Jonathan Cape 2013)

POETRY

Anvil New Poets (Anvil Press 1990)
The Island Rescue (Melos Press 2007)
An Instruction from Madame S. (Rack Press 2009)
The Paradise Commissionaire (Rack Press 2017)
The Water Steps (Rack Press 2017)
At First Light (Rack Press 2023)

NON-FICTION

In Love with Hell: Drink in the Lives and Work of Eleven Writers (Robinson 2021) 

Work in progress:

Stage and radio adaptations of his novel, The India House, have just been completed. 

He is currently revising a novel, provisionally entitled A Great Fortune, and assembling a new collection of short stories