Catherine Merriman

British writer (born 1949)

Catherine A. Merriman (born 1949) is a British novelist, short story writer and editor who has published five novels and three short story collections. Her work often addresses the experiences of women. Her first novel, Leaving the Light On (1992), won the Ruth Hadden Memorial Award; her other works include the novels Fatal Observations (1993) and State of Desire (1996); the short story collections Silly Mothers (1991), shortlisted for the Wales Book of the Year, and Getting a Life (2001); and the edited collection Laughing, Not Laughing: Women Writing on 'My Experience of Sex (2004), which won an Erotic Award. Born in London, she has lived in Wales since 1973, and is often considered to be a Welsh author.

Catherine Merriman was born in 1949 in London, England, where she spent her childhood. in 1994 she was living in Brynmawr, Gwent. Merriman taught writing for ten years at the University of Glamorgan (now part of the University of South Wales). She is a fellow of the Welsh Academy and co chaired their members' committee. She has judged short story competitions. Merriman was one of seven Welsh women authors to be included in Linden Peach's 2007 book, Contemporary Irish and Welsh Women's Fiction: Gender, Desire and Power; Peach comments that "her career as a writer is inseparable from Wales".

Leaving the Light On won the Ruth Hadden Memorial Award for first novels in 1992. A later review for the same newspaper describes it as an "observant first novel", whose "sinister" atmosphere is enhanced by its "determinedly unromantic" seaside setting. Max Davidson, in a short review of the paperback edition for The Daily Telegraph, describes it as "One of the strongest first novels of recent years". David Robson, in a mixed review for The Sunday Telegraph, calls the novel a "highly assured début" which is "sharply observed"; he praises the beginning, but notes that the symmetrical set up slows down the plot, leading to "too much navel watching and not enough action." In her second novel, Fatal Observations – which she has said also stems from her Women's Aid experience – Merriman tackles the subject of domestic violence. Robin Blake, in a broadly positive short review of the novel in The Independent, criticises the "too in your face character analysis". A review for The Times characterises the theme as the relationship between the sexes, describing the story as evolving from "sharply funny" to an ending that is "very nasty indeed". The protagonist of State of Desire, her third novel, is recently bereaved widow from South Wales who protests about opencast mining and has an affair with a much younger man. The novel addresses reawakening sexuality after bereavement and also tackles environmental issues. Davidson, in a short review for The Telegraph, praises the novel's "crisp writing, sharp dialogue and shrewd characterisation", and describes parts as having "real pathos". The academic Jane Aaron comments that the novel depicts a woman appealing to "traditional Welsh values of community and respect for nature" to fight for modern environmental causes. Stephen Knight assesses State of Desire within the tradition of industrial novels; he comments that it envisages a "modern world where women can resist modern industrial blight" and that the "commitment and resistance of the industrial novel can continue in the present." State of Desire has also been noted as an early example of a Welsh novel that features a minor character who is lesbian. Her next novel, Broken Glass, depicts a relationship disrupted by the diagnosis of cancer. A review in the Liverpool Echo describes it as "[h]arrowing and heartening by turns".

Merriman's first collection of stories, Silly Mothers, was shortlisted for 1992 Wales Book of the Year, Her stories have appeared in anthologies, including The Second Penguin Book of Welsh Short Stories (1994) and many have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Linden Peach includes Merriman in a list of twenty two "key" 20th century women writers of short fiction in English. Her short story collections, together with those of the other Welsh authors Leonora Brito, Clare Morgan, Siân James and Glenda Beagan, have been described by Michelle Deininger as having "changed the direction of the form further, exploring issues such as race, female identity, ageing, and Welsh language learning." Jude Brigley suggests her collection "Silly Mothers" as a text for teaching creative writing. Peach analyses her short stories and particularly her third collection, Getting a Life (2001), in the context of a trope he terms the "blind spot", a "space of danger outside of what is normally in our field of vision", covering perceived threat or actual potential for violence ("Eating Sugar", "One Step Away from Trouble") as well as real violence ("Delivery"), and compares her with the Irish author, Mary Morrissy. Andy Beckett describes "Barbecue", Merriman's contribution to the Penguin anthology, as "contemporary picaresque" and compares it with the work of the Scottish author, Duncan McLean. David Lloyd considers Merriman's "One Day" among the highlights of the anthology Mama's Baby (Papa's Maybe) & Other Stories: New Welsh Short Fiction (1999), commenting that its "language sparkles and delights".