fiction.wikisort.org - Writer

Alison Louise Kennedy (born 22 October 1965) is a Scottish writer, academic and stand-up comedian. She writes novels, short stories and non-fiction, and is known for her dark tone and her blending of realism and fantasy. She contributes columns and reviews to European newspapers.[1]

A. L. Kennedy
A.L. Kennedy in 2012
Born	Alison Louise Kennedy (1965-10-22) 22 October 1965 (age 56) Dundee, Scotland
Occupation	Writer, academic, comedian
Nationality	Scottish
Citizenship	United Kingdom
Education	University of Warwick
Website
www.a-l-kennedy.co.uk

Biography

Kennedy was born in Dundee to Edwardene Mildred, a teacher, and Robert Alan Kennedy, a psychology lecturer. Her parents divorced when she was 13. She attended the fee-paying High School of Dundee and went on to study for a BA Hons in Theatre Studies and Dramatic Arts at the University of Warwick.[2][3][4]

From 1987 to 1989,^{[citation needed]} Kennedy was a community arts worker for Clydebank District Council. She then went on to a role as writer-in-residence for Hamilton and East Kilbride Social Work Department from 1989 to 1991. Her work there won a special Social Work Today Award in 1990. From 1989 to 1995 she worked on Project Ability, a Glasgow-based visual arts organisation. In 1995 she was a part-time lecturer at the University of Copenhagen.[4][5]

In 2009, she donated the short story Vanish to Oxfam's Ox-Tales project, four collections of stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the "Air" collection.[6] In 2016, her novel Serious Sweet was long-listed for the Booker Prize.

In December 2019, along with 42 other leading cultural figures, she signed a letter endorsing the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership in the 2019 general election. The letter stated that "Labour's election manifesto under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership offers a transformative plan that prioritises the needs of people and the planet over private profit and the vested interests of a few."[7][8]

In 2020 she began contributing a column on her views of Brexit to the German daily paper Süddeutsche Zeitung.[9] [10] [11] [12]

Kennedy currently lives in Wivenhoe[13] and has been an associate professor in Creative Writing at the University of Warwick[14] since 2007, having previously taught creative writing at the University of St Andrews from 2003 to 2007.

She has performed as a stand-up comedian at the Edinburgh Fringe and literary festivals. Her main comedy club has been The Stand Comedy Club in Edinburgh.[15]

Awards and honours

• Scottish Arts Council Book Award four times[5]
• 1993, 2003 Granta Best Young British Novelist[5][16]
• 1991 Saltire Society Scottish First Book of the Year, Night Geometry and the Garscadden Trains[17]
• 1993 Edinburgh Fringe First, The Audition[17][18]
• 1994 Somerset Maugham Award, Looking for the possible dance[5][17]
• 1996 Encore Award winner, So I Am Glad[19]
• 2007 Saltire Society Book of the Year, Day[5][20]
• 2007 Lannan Literary Award for fiction[5]
• 2007 Austrian State Prize for European Literature winner[21]
• 2007 Costa Book Awards Book of the Year, winner for Day[22]
• 2008 Internationale Eifel-Literatur-Preis[5][23]
• 2014 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award shortlist All the Rage[24]
• 2016 Heinrich Heine Prize[25]

Works

Novels

• Looking for the Possible Dance (1993) ISBN 978-0-7493-9758-6
• So I Am Glad (1995) ISBN 978-0-09-945721-3
• Everything You Need (1999) ISBN 978-0-09-973061-3
• Paradise (2004) ISBN 978-0-09-943349-1
• Day (5 April 2007) ISBN 978-0-09-949405-8
• The Blue Book (4 August 2011) ISBN 978-0-224-09140-4
• Doctor Who: The Drosten's Curse (14 July 2015) ISBN 978-0-553-41944-3
• Serious Sweet (19 May 2016) ISBN 978-0-224-09844-1
• The Little Snake (6 November 2018) ISBN 978-1786893864

Short story collections

• Night Geometry and the Garscadden Trains (1990) ISBN 978-0-09-945006-1
• Now That You're Back (1994) ISBN 978-0-09-945711-4
• Tea and Biscuits (1996) ISBN 978-1-85799-757-6
• Original Bliss (1997) ISBN 978-0-09-973071-2
• Indelible Acts (2002) ISBN 978-0-09-943348-4
• What Becomes (6 August 2009) ISBN 978-0-224-07787-3
• All the Rage (2014) ISBN 978-0544307049
• We Are Attempting To Survive Our Time (2020) ISBN 978-1787331822

Non-fiction

• Life & Death of Colonel Blimp (1997) ISBN 0-85170-568-5
• On Bullfighting (1999) ISBN 0-224-06099-6
• On Writing (2013) ISBN 978-0-224-09697-3
• ’’Care of the Luwak’’ (2010)

Screenwriting

• Stella Does Tricks (1997)
• Dice (2001), with John Burnside

Selected radio

• Confessions of a Medium (2010), broadcast as the Saturday Play on BBC Radio 4, 13 March 2010 and 1 March 2013[26]
• Happy Families (2011), broadcast on BBC Radio 3, 1 September 2011
• Love Love Love Like The Beatles (2012), broadcast as the Afternoon Drama on BBC Radio 4, 26 June 2012
• AA: America's Gift to the World (2014), broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 6 April 2015[27]
• Subterranean Homesick Blues (beginning 2015), broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from 14 September, 2015

References

External links

• Official website
• A. L. Kennedy at British Council: Literature
• A L Kennedy at the Guardian
• BBC profile
• AL Kennedy reading at writLOUD in London

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