Tremayne Peter

Peter Berresford Ellis (born 10 March 1943) is a historian, literary biographer and novelist who has published over 100 books to date under his own name and that of his pseudonyms Peter Tremayne and Peter MacAlan. He has also published over 100 short stories. His non-fiction books, articles and academic papers have made him acknowledged as one of the foremost authorities on Celtic history and culture. Under his Tremayne pseudonym he is the author of the international bestselling Sister Fidelma Mystery series. His work has appeared in 25 languages.

Peter Berresford Ellis was born in Coventry, Warwickshire, England. His father was a Cork-born journalist who started his career on the Cork Examiner. The Ellis family can be traced in the area from 1288. His mother was from an old Sussex family of Saxon origin able to trace their lineage back through fourteen generations in the same area. Her mother was of a Breton family. Educated at Brighton College of Art and London University. He took a first class honours degree and his MA in Celtic Studies. He was given a D. Litt (honoris causa) by East London University in 2006 in recognition of his work. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (1996) and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (1998). He has received numerous awards and honours for his work such as a Bard of the Cornish Gorsedd (1987) for his work on the history of the Cornish language - The Cornish Language and its Literature (published in 1974); an Irish Post Award (1989); Hon. Life President of the Scottish 1820 Society (1989); Hon. Life Member of the Irish Literary Society (2002); he was given a civic reception by the Mayor and Council of Cashel, Co. Tipperary (2004) - the highest civic award Cashel can bestow. He was awarded the French Prix Historia for the best historical mystery novel of 2010 for Le concile des maudits (The Council of the Cursed).

He began his career as a junior reporter on an English south coast weekly, becoming deputy editor of an Irish weekly newspaper and was then editor of a weekly publishing trade journal in London. He first went as a feature writer to Northern Ireland in 1964 for a London daily newspaper which had a profound effect on him. His first book was published in 1968 - Wales - A Nation Again, on the Welsh struggle for political independence, with a foreword by Gwynfor Evans, Plaid Cymru's first Member of Parliament. In 1975 he became a full-time writer.

He used his academic background to produce many popular titles in the field of Celtic Studies and he has written numerous academic articles and papers in the field for journals ranging from The Linguist (London) to The Irish Sword: Journal of the Irish Military History Society (UCD). He is highly regarded by academics in his own field and was described in by The Times Higher Education Supplement, London, (June, 1999) as one of the leading authorities on the Celts then writing.

He has been International Chairman of the Celtic League 1988-1990; chairman of Scrif-Celt (The Celtic Languages Book Fair in 1985 and in 1986); chairman and vice-president of the London Association for Celtic Education 1989-1995, and now is an Hon. Life Member); He was also chairman of his local ward Labour Party in London, England, and was editorial advisor on Labour and Ireland magazine in the early 1990s. He is a member of the Society of Authors.

Apart from his Celtic Studies interests, Ellis has always been fascinated by aspects of popular literature and has written full-length biographies on H. Rider Haggard, W.E. Johns, Talbot Mundy as well as critical essays on many more popular fiction authors. His own output in the fictional field, writing in the genre of horror fantasy and heroic fantasy, began in 1977 when the first "Peter Tremayne" book appeared. Between 1983 and 1993 he also wrote eight adventure thrillers under the name "Peter MacAlan".

A prolific writer, Ellis has published (as of July 2018) a total of 101 books, 101 short stories, 8 pamphlets and numerous academic papers and an uncountable number of signed journalistic articles. Under his own name he wrote two long running columns 'Anonn Is Anall' (Here and There) from 1987-2007 for The Irish Democrat and 'Anois agus Arás' (Now and again) from 2000-2008 for The Irish Post. This breaks down into 35 titles under his own name and 8 under the pseudonym of Peter MacAlan and 59 under the pseudonym of Peter Tremayne.

He has lectured widely at universities in several countries, including the UK, Ireland, American, Canada, France and Italy. He has also broadcast on television and radio since 1968.

With the unparalleled popularity of his 7th century set Sister Fidelma Mysteries, in January, 2001, an International Sister Fidelma Society was formed in Charleston, South Carolina, with a website and producing a print magazine three times a year called The Brehon. In 2006 the Cashel Arts Fest established the first three-day international gathering of fans of the series which is now held bi-annually and receives the full support of the Society. In Fall, 2012, the US publishers McFarland published The Sister Fidelma Mysteries: Essays on the Historical Novels of Peter Tremayne. The volume was edited by Professor Edward J. Rielly and David Robert Wooten. ISBN 978-0-7864-6667-2 and eBook ISBN 978-1-4766-0034-5. Print book price was $40. As well as analytical essays, there is a biographical essay which has the full approval of the author.

Peter's wife, Dorothea Cheesmur Ellis, died on March 30, 2016. They had been together since the autumn of 1966. He has publicly acknowledged that she was the inspiration behind the creation of Fidelma. The May, 2016, issue of The Brehon (Vol XV, No 2) was devoted as a tribute issue to her life and influence.