Tom Roder      biography
  1962 - 1997                         << Back

Short Biography - Carole Roder

Tom was born in February 1962 in Barking, London but moved to Sheffield (where his mother was born) in July of that year. His father is Hungarian and was born in Budapest but has lived in England since 1949. Tom grew up in Sheffield and was a pupil first at Hunter's Bar School and then at High Storrs Comprehensive School. He was interested in music and played the clarinet (he achieved Grade 8) and art, which he took at 'A' level. However his main interest was English Literature and he chose to study this at University.

He was accepted at University College London in 1980. After a year he decided he would prefer to study art. He came back to Sheffield and attended the Art College there for a year and then was offered a place at Ruskin College, Oxford to continue his art studies. He left after a term as he decided he would like to resume his English studies. He returned to University College and did get a BA(hons) in English Literature. He then took his PGCE in Cambridge and passed his probationary teaching year in Sheffield. He decided that teaching was not for him and started a PhD in English but abandoned it, as he wanted to concentrate on his own writing. He also worked as a sub-editor for a local paper and wrote and had published articles in the weekend magazine sections of national newspapers.

From the mid eighties until the mid nineties he was writing poetry and short stories and in the late eighties he invented The Game of 'o' "a game of exploration and revelation for 2 or more players". Between 1990 and 1995 he was also involved in The Sheffield University Writers Group. In 1995 he travelled around Britain and wrote an account of his journey - In Search of the Miraculous. In 1996 he worked briefly as a journalist for the local Newcastle paper.