David John Taylor (born 1960) is a British critic, novelist and biographer, who was born and raised in Norfolk. After attending school in Norwich, he read modern history at St John's College, Oxford, and has received the 2003 Whitbread Biography Award for his biography of George Orwell. His novel Derby Day was longlisted for the 2011 Man Booker Prize. He was previously a member of the Norwich Writers' Circle. He has contributed to The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent, New Statesman, The Spectator, Private Eye and Literary Review, among other publications.

Assessments

Theodore Dalrymple, reviewing Taylor's Who Is Big Brother?: A Reader's Guide to George Orwell, concluded that "It deals most sensitively with Orwell's multiple ambiguities without trying to fit them into a Procrustean bed. It informs, enlightens, and entertains. It restores one's faith in the value of criticism."

Personal life

Taylor, who was born in Norwich, lives there with his wife, the fiction writer Rachel Hore, and their three children.

Works

Prizes and honours