Lisa St Aubin de Terán (born 2 October 1953) is an English novelist, writer of autobiographical fictions, and memoirist. Her father was the Guyanese writer and academic Jan Carew.Obituary: Jan R. Carew, The Courier-Journal, 9 December 2012.
Life and career Lisa St Aubin de Terán was born in 1953 to Joan Mary Murray (née St Aubin) and Jan Rynveld CarewMargaret Busby, "Jan Carew obituary", The Guardian, 21 December 2012. and was brought up in Clapham in south London. She attended James Allen's Girls' School. Her memoir Hacienda (1998) describes how she fell into a whirlwind first marriage at the age of 16 to an exiled Venezuelan aristocrat and bank robber, Jaime Terán, and lived for seven years at a remote farm in the Andean region of Venezuela.Michael Upchurch, "The Robber's Bride: A new memoir by Lisa St. Aubin de Terán tells how a young person can get in a terrible jam", The New York Times, 12 April 1998. She fled both the marriage and Venezuela when he suggested that she and their infant daughter should join him in a suicide pact.
After returning to Britain, she married her second husband, the Scottish poet and novelist George MacBeth in 1982. It was also in that year she published her first novel, Keepers of the House, winning her the Somerset Maugham Award and a place on Grantas list of "Best of Young British Novelists" (1983, issue #7). The Slow Train to Milan, winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, followed in 1983. In the same year, she moved to Wiggenhall St. Mary Magdalen in Norfolk. After her second marriage broke down, she left to live in Italy.Wiggenhall St. Mary Magdalen, Literary Norfolk.
Her third husband was the painter Robbie Duff Scott, whom she had first met when George MacBeth asked him to paint a portrait of her. After marrying in 1989, she and Duff Scott moved to Umbria, her life there being described in Venice: The Four Seasons (1992) and A Valley in Italy (1994).
In 1994, she presented "Santos to Santa Cruz", an episode of the BBC television series Great Railway Journeys, about travelling from Brazil to Bolivia, and wrote an accompanying article for The Times. Later in 1998, she visited Lake Garda and Lake Maggiore for an episode of the BBC Radio 4 documentary The Off Season.
In 2001, Duff Scott and de Terán separated and by 2003 de Terán had moved to Amsterdam and set up her own film production company called Radiant Pictures, through which she met her new partner, Dutch cameraman, Mees van Deth. A year later, the couple moved to Mossuril, Nampula Province, Mozambique.
De Terán has three children.
The Terán Foundation In 2004, Lisa St Aubin de Terán established The Terán Foundation to help poor villages in northern Mozambique."About Us", Teran Foundation. She writes about this phase of her life in Mozambique Mysteries (2007).Lesley McDowell, "Mozambique Mysteries, By Lisa St Aubin de Teran" (review), The Independent, 28 November 2010.
The Terán Foundation's first project, the College of Tourism and Agriculture (CTCA) in Cabaceira Grande, operated between 2004 and 2010, before it was sold back to the government. A second restaurant and guest house, Sunset Boulevard, functions on a non-profit basis as a training facility in Mossuril. The third building project, The Leopard Spot, was earmarked for construction in Milange, on the border with Malawi.
Awards YearWorkAwardResultRef.1982Keepers of the HouseSomerset Maugham Award 1983PoetryEric Gregory Award 1983The Slow Train to MilanJohn Llewellyn Rhys Prize
Bibliography In addition to her books, Lisa St Aubin de Terán has written, primarily as a travel journalist, for The Observer, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Independent, The New York Times, The Mail on Sunday, New Statesman, Vanity Fair, Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan among other publications.
Books YearTitlePublisherGenreNotes1980The StreakMartin BoothPoemLimited edition of 125 copies. (6 pp.)1982Keepers of the HouseJonathan Cape / Harper and RowNovelPublished in the US with the title The Long Way Home). Winner of the Somerset Maugham Award1983The Slow Train to MilanJonathan CapeNovelWinner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. Reviewed in The Sunday Times1984The TigerJonathan CapeNovelReviewed in The Times and The Sunday Times1985The High PlaceJonathan CapePoetry1986"I hate the cinema"The Irish TimesShort story11 August 1986: p. 13 1986The Bay of SilenceJonathan CapeNovel1987Black IdolJonathan CapeNovelReviewed in The Independent1989The Marble Mountain and other storiesJonathan CapeShort storiesReviewed in The Sunday Telegraph1989Off the Rails: Memoirs of a Train AddictBloomsburyMemoirReviewed in The Sunday Times, The Telegraph and The Independent1989Landscape in ItalyPavilionPictorialPhotographs by John Ferro Sims1989Indiscreet Journeys: Stories of Women on the RoadVirago PressAnthologyEditor1990JoannaVirago PressNovelReviewed in The Times, The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent and The Independent on Sunday1991Venice: The Four SeasonsPavilionTraveloguePhotographs by Mick Lindberg1992NocturneHamish HamiltonNovelReviewed in The Sunday Times1994A Valley in Italy: Confessions of a House AddictHamish Hamilton / HarperCollinsMemoirPublished in the US as A Valley in Italy: The Many Seasons of a Villa in Umbria. Reviewed in The Independent on Sunday1997The Hacienda: My Venezuelan YearsVirago PressMemoirReviewed in The Daily Telegraph and The Independent1997The PalaceMacmillanNovelReviewed in The Sunday Times and The Independent1998Virago Book of Wanderlust and DreamsVirago PressAnthologyEditor1999SouthpawVirago PressShort stories2000Elements of ItalyVirago PressAnthologyEditor2002Memory MapsVirago PressMemoirReviewed in The Times2005OttoVirago Press / Harper PerennialNovelPublished in the US with the title Swallowing Stones. Reviewed in The Times, The Irish Times, The Guardian and The Independent2007Mozambique MysteriesVirago PressMemoirReviewed in The Independent2024Better Broken Than NewAmaurea PressMemoirhttps://www.amaureapress.com/titles/better-broken-than-new/2024The HobbyAmaurea PressNovelhttps://www.amaureapress.com/titles/the-hobby/
Further reading Author's website The Teran Foundation Author biography and profile at British Council 1984 interview in The Daily Telegraph 1987 interview in The Daily Telegraph 1990 interview in The Sunday Telegraph 1990 interview in The Sunday Times 1992 interview in The Daily Telegraph 1993 interview in The Guardian 1997 interview in The Daily Telegraph 2002 interview in The Sunday Times 2003 interview in The Times In the Psychiatrist's Chair (interview on BBC Radio 4 in 1993) Everywoman: "A Whirlwind Affair" (interview on the BBC World Service in 2002) Portuguese fan website Portuguese fan collection of Lisa St Aubin de Terán reviews
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