Wain Collection

John Wain (1925-1994) was an English novelist, poet and critic. His novels include Hurry on down, The Contenders and Young Shoulders. He was a lecturer in English at the University of Reading from 1947 to 1955.

This comprehensive collection includes not only published books but also articles, reviews, poems and interviews published in journals and newspapers, as well as articles written about Wain and translations of his work.

In addition, there is a small amount of archive material with unpublished material, consisting chiefly of broadcast scripts and transcripts, with a few items of correspondence.

Much of the collection was donated to the University Library by John Wain himself.

More information

• Most of the collection is catalogued on Unicorn, the rest appears in the Online Card Catalogue
• A card catalogue accompanying the collection is also available at the Special Collections Service
• A full description of the archive material is available from our online database