Roma Tearne (née Chrysostom; born 1954) is a Sri Lankan-born artist and writer living and working in England. Her debut novel, Mosquito, was shortlisted for the 2007 Costa Book Awards first Novel prize (formerly the Whitbread Prize).

Early life and education

Tearne moved to South London in 1964 with her Sinhalese mother and Tamil father when she was ten years old. Tearne attended the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford, (2000-2001) and earned an MA.

Career

She was Leverhulme Artist in Residence at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford in 2002–2003, then Artist in Residence at Modern Art Oxford in 2004. In October 2005 she started a three-year post-doctoral AHRC fellowship at Oxford Brookes University.

Art and film

Tearne has exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, London. In a 1998 review of her work in Modern Painter, J.B. Bullen described Tearne's work as, "light is simultaneously everywhere and nowhere in these powerful paintings." Tearne directed and shot five short films, including, Letter from Urbino, which was screened at the National Gallery, London, in 2012 as part of the launch of her novel The Road to Urbino.

Writing

Tearne's first novel, Mosquito, published by HarperCollins in 2007, was shortlisted for the Costa Prize and nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Her second novel, Bone China, was published in spring 2008. Her third novel, Brixton Beach, was published in 2009. Her fourth novel, The Swimmer, (May 2010) was long-listed for the Orange Prize, while a film based on the narrative was made by Tearne and shown at the Venice Biennale in 2011. Her fifth novel, The Road to Urbino (2012) was long-listed for the Asian Man Booker, while another film by Tearne, based on the novel, was shown at the National Gallery, London, in June of that year. Tearne's most recent novels, The Last Pier (2015) and The White City (2017), were published by Aardrark Bureau.

Publications

Novels

Articles

Films

Selected exhibitions

Public events