[ebooktalk] FW: Granta list of new writers
- From: "Trish Talbot" <trish@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <ebooktalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:28:29 +0100
I thought this might be of interest. There is more information about all
the writers on the audible.co.uk website.
Trish.
Women writers in the ascendant in Granta's once-a-decade Best of Young
British Novelists list
Nick Clark
Monday, 15 April 2013
The future of women's fiction looks bright as the once-a-decade list of best
young British authors was dominated, for the first time in its 40-year
history, by female authors.
Literary magazine Granta yesterday published the fourth in its landmark
series of the Best of Young British Talent.
The 20-strong list of novelists was made up of 12 women, up from eight on
the previous list a decade earlier the highest so fare.
Jonathan Ruppin, web editor at book shop Foyles, said: "This is the first
time there has been a majority of women. For a long time women have bought
a lot of fiction. As a lot more women are reading, so a lot more are
writing."
"This list is a reflection that there are a hell of a lot of women writers
out there, many of whom have been unrecognised so far," he said: "I am
reading many more interesting debuts from women at the moment."
The Granta list has been famed for picking future literary stars. Alumni
include Sir Salman Rushdie, Rose Tremain, Ian McEwan, Kazuo Ishiguro and AL
Kennedy.
The class of 2013 includes two who made the list a decade ago in Zadie
Smith, author of NW and winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction, and Adam
Thirlwell.
New names selected include Taiye Selasi, whose debut novel Ghana Must Go
caused a sensation on its release last month, Benjamin Markovits, a former
professional basketball player in Germany, and Naomi Alderman. As well as
writing three novels, she co-created fitness application Zombies, Run!.
John Freeman, the editor of Granta, said: "From satirists to humourists to
sweeping epic-spinners, these writers have a command of language and their
form which is simply astonishing." He added: "They show that the novel has a
bold and brilliant future in Britain."
All of the authors are British citizens - except Kamila Shamsie who is in
the process of getting citizenship - but many have backgrounds from all over
the world. From Somalia and China, to Texas and Karachi.
Mr Ruppin said: "This list does reflect the ethnic diversity of British
writing. It reflects that publishing is opening up to talented writers from
different backgrounds."
It includes Xiaolu Guo, who grew up in a small fishing village in southern
China with no access to books, who has written novels in Chinese and
English. Nadifa Mohamed, who was born in Somalia in 1981 and moved to London
five years later, made the longlist for the Orange prize for Black Mamba
Boy.
Mr Ruppin said: "In terms of reputation, this list does a huge amount. It
can be tough for a young author to follow up a first time book, but this is
about the writer."
The youngest to make the list was 28-year-old Ned Beauman, whose second
novel The Teleportation Accident was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
Only a few months older is Helen Oyeyemi, who wrote The Icarus Girl while
studying for her A levels and is working on her fifth novel.
Sunjeev Sahota had not read a novel until he was 18, picking up Granta
alumnus Sir Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children in an airport on the way to
visit relatives in India. His novel Ours are the Streets was published in
2011.
Other names include poet and novelist Adam Foulds, Evie Wyld, who runs an
independent bookshop in Peckham and Sarah Hall, who has written four novels
including one that made the Booker shortlist, and who Mr Ruppin has
earmarked as a literary star.
Granta Best of Young British Novelists: the list in full
Naomi Alderman
Tahmima Anam
Ned Beauman
Jenni Fagan
Adam Foulds
Xiaolu Guo
Sarah Hall
Steven Hall
Joanna Kavenna
Benjamin Markovits
Nadifa Mohamed
Helen Oyeyemi
Ross Raisin
Sunjeev Sahota
Taiye Selasi
Kamila Shamsie
Zadie Smith
David Szalay
Adam Thirlwell
Evie Wyld
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