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Polly Samson

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Polly Samson
Samson in 2020
Born (1962-04-29) 29 April 1962 (age 62)
London, England
Occupations
Notable work
Spouse
​
(m. 1994)​
Children4
Websitepollysamson.com

Polly Samson (born 29 April 1962) is an English novelist, lyricist and journalist. She is married to the musician David Gilmour and has written lyrics for many of his songs, including albums with his band Pink Floyd.

Life and career

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Samson's father was Lance Samson (died 4 February 2013[1]), a newspaper editor[1] and diplomatic correspondent for the Morning Star.[2] He and his Jewish family lived in Hamburg, from where he fled from Nazi persecution as a child on the Kindertransport, coming to England as a refugee.[3] Her mother was Esther Cheo Ying, a Chinese-English writer[3] whose memoir, Black Country to Red China, dealt with her time serving as a Major in Mao Zedong's Red Army.[4] Samson's mother's second husband was the British journalist Alan Winnington.[5]

At a party with William Sieghart in 1991

Fiction

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Following a troubled childhood, Samson joined the publishing industry, through which she met the writer Heathcote Williams with whom she became romantically involved during the publication of his book-length poem Whale Nation (1988). Samson was responsible for publicising what became a best-selling volume, despite its author's reluctance to promote his own work.[6] With Williams she had her first son, Charlie.[7] Following his birth, Samson became homeless and was taken in for a period by the journalist Cassandra Jardine.[8]

Samson has written short stories for BBC Radio 4 and has had a collection published Lying in Bed (Virago 1999) and a novel, Out of the Picture (Virago 2000).[7] She contributed to books and publications including Gas and Air (Bloomsbury 2003), Girls Night In (Harper Collins 2000), A Day in the Life (Black Swan 2003), and The Just When Stories (Beautiful Books 2010). Samson's collection of stories, Perfect Lives, was published in November 2010 by Virago Press. Her novel The Kindness was published in 2015.[9]

In 2018, Samson was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.[10] Her novel A Theatre For Dreamers was published on 2 April 2020 by Bloomsbury Circus.[11] The novel entered the Sunday Times Bestsellers Chart at number two.[12]

Music

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After splitting from Williams, Samson met the Pink Floyd singer and guitarist David Gilmour. They married in 1994 during Pink Floyd's Division Bell tour.[13] Her son Charlie was adopted by Gilmour.[13] They have three other children: Joe, Gabriel and Romany.[4]

Samson is credited as a co-writer on seven songs on the 1994 Pink Floyd album The Division Bell.[14] Gilmour said that Samson's contributions had "ruffled the management's [feathers]", but the producer Bob Ezrin later reflected that her presence had been inspirational for Gilmour, and that she "pulled the whole album together".[15] Samson did not want credit, saying "the idea of my name being attached to Pink Floyd was like some nightmare", but Gilmour insisted, telling her she would regret going uncredited. She later said he was right, and that she had become used to him singing her lyrics.[16] Samson contributed lyrics to "Louder than Words" on the 2014 Pink Floyd album The Endless River.[17] She wrote lyrics for Gilmour's 2006 album On an Island,[14] and made a guest appearance on piano and vocals.[14] She also wrote lyrics for Gilmour's albums Rattle That Lock (2015) and Luck and Strange (2024).[18]

On 6 February 2023 Samson tweeted to Gilmour's former Pink Floyd bandmate Roger Waters: "Sadly you are antisemitic to your rotten core. Also a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac. Enough of your nonsense."[19] Gilmour followed up by writing: "Every word demonstrably true."[20]

Works

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Library resources about
Polly Samson
By Polly Samson
  • Lying in Bed – Virago Press Ltd, 2000; ISBN 1-86049-667-9
  • Out of the Picture – Virago Press Ltd, 2001; ISBN 1-86049-864-7
  • Perfect Lives – Virago Press Ltd, 2010; ISBN 1-86049-992-9
  • The Kindness – Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015; ISBN 978-1632860675
  • A Theatre for Dreamers – Bloomsbury Circus, 2020; ISBN 978-1526600554

References

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  1. ^ a b Samson, Polly [@PollySamson] (5 February 2013). "@TheLilacTime @thepacket haha my dad (who died yesterday) used to edit that paper!" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 10 January 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2022 – via Twitter.
  2. ^ Samson, Polly [@PollySamson] (5 February 2013). "@M_Star_Online Thought you might want to know that Lance Samson, former Diplomatic Correspondent of the paper (late 50s -1970) has died" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 17 March 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2022 – via Twitter.
  3. ^ a b "The painful secrets of my Jewish past". The Jewish Chronicle. 2 April 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Polly Samson - About - Official Website". pollysamson.com.
  5. ^ "The painful secrets of my Jewish past". The Jewish Chronicle. 2 April 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
  6. ^ "'Please don't call me Mrs Gilmour'". The Guardian. 6 May 2011. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  7. ^ a b Drennan, John (11 June 2000). "Samson's delight". Irish Independent. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
  8. ^ Polly Samson, et al "Cassandra Jardine: your friends and colleagues will all miss you", telegraph.co.uk, 29 May 2012.
  9. ^ The Kindness, Amazon; accessed 24 October 2015.
  10. ^ "Royal Society of Literature » Polly Samson". rsliterature.org.
  11. ^ "Theatre for Dreamers". Bloomsbury Publishing.
  12. ^ Bloomsbury UK [@BloomsburyBooks] (10 April 2020). "We're thrilled @PollySamson's #ATheatreForDreamers has reached #2 on the Sunday Times bestseller chart! Get your hardback copy delivered from @Waterstones here: https://t.co/H1BS4u7kQo The ebook is available on #Kindle: https://t.co/ra5eMpny4l https://t.co/yA0czPPDqE" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 24 January 2022 – via Twitter.
  13. ^ a b "My fear for the Charlie I know". The Telegraph. 19 July 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
  14. ^ a b c Mabbett, Andy (2010). Pink Floyd. She provided the full stops at the end of sentences. - The Music and the Mystery. London: Omnibus. ISBN 978-1-84938-370-7.
  15. ^ Blake 2008, pp. 355–356
  16. ^ "David Gilmour: Life after the Lurching Monster". TIDAL Magazine. 14 September 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  17. ^ Greene, Andy (22 September 2014). "Pink Floyd Roll Out Plans For 'The Endless River', their first LP in 20 Years". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  18. ^ Grow, Kory (24 April 2024). "David Gilmour to release new album, Luck and Strange, this fall". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  19. ^ "Pink Floyd lyricist calls Roger Waters an antisemite and 'Putin apologist' | Music". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  20. ^ Chris Willman (7 February 2023). "David Gilmour and His Wife Say Roger Waters is 'Antisemitic to Core'". Variety. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
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