| Made in the UK | |
 |
Novelists The UK has a history of great novelists and a reputation for popular fiction which transcends generations. Andrew Jarvis and Jim Griffin profile a new generation of authors who are leaving their mark on the world’s literary landscape |
| The UK has a literary pedigree
second to none. Works by writers
such as Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton,
Wordsworth, Hardy, Dickens, the Brontës,
Stevenson, Woolf, Thomas and Orwell are regarded
as classics of world literature. Many more UK
authors have made an international impact in
recent decades, such as Anthony Burgess, Ted
Hughes, Kingsley Amis, Martin Amis, Margaret
Drabble and Salman Rushdie. The UK’s best
contemporary authors inevitably draw on the vast
back-catalogue of English literature, but are also
influenced by many other traditions, countries
and cultures. This broader outlook is a reflection
of 21st-century global culture, and of the UK’s
ethnic and religious diversity. Best-selling novels by writers such as Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting), Zadie Smith (White Teeth) and Monica Ali (Brick Lane) are undoubtedly British works, but each is written from a distinct perspective and each paints a very different picture of modern life in the UK, from the gritty Edinburgh of Trainspotting to the vibrant, multiethnic London of White Teeth and Brick Lane. The works of J.K. Rowling (the Harry Potter series) and Philip Pullman (the His Dark Materials trilogy) are perhaps more traditionally ‘British’. Although ostensibly children’s fantasy books, both series are hugely popular with readers of all ages. Harry Potter, in particular, has become one of the most successful literary creations of our time, spawning films, computer games and an entire genre of books. Contemporary UK novelists reflect the UK’s ethnic and religious diversity At the forefront of contemporary British writing is one of the UK’s most controversial authors, Ian McEwan, whose work is edgy, distinctive and difficult to categorise. More accessible to all are Nick Hornby’s novels, such as High Fidelity, which document the lives of men in the 1990s. Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones novels have done the same for women in the new millennium. Iain M. Banks’s science fiction works and Pat Barker’s chilling lamentations on the horrors of war clearly do not reflect contemporary life in the UK in quite the same way but, even so, are underpinned by universal themes and written with remarkable insight, lucidity and ingenuity. Here we celebrate the creativity of UK actors and film-makers. |
 |
< Nick Hornby Nick Hornby caught the 1990s zeitgeist with a succession of highly successful novels. Hornby’s first book, Fever Pitch (1992), a memoir of his devotion to Arsenal Football Club, won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award and was made into a film starring Colin Firth. His next novel, High Fidelity (1995) was the story of an obsessive record collector and list-maker, and was again adapted as a film, this time starring John Cusack. About a Boy (1998) focused on the relationship between a man and a 12-yearold boy, and was filmed with Hugh Grant in 2002. How to Be Good (2001) won the WH Smith Award for Fiction, and was followed by 31 Songs (2003). In 1999, Hornby was awarded the E.M. Forster Award by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. |
| Zadie Smith > Despite having published only two novels, Zadie Smith is regarded as one of the UK’s best young writers. Her debut White Teeth (2000) was a sensation and made her an established author overnight.An international best-seller, the book has been translated into more than 20 languages and adapted for television by Channel 4. Born in Willesden, north London, to an English father and a Jamaican mother in 1975, Smith’s debut was clearly influenced by her upbringing in one of London’s most ethnically mixed areas. As such, it is a great insight into, and celebration of, the cultural and racial diversity of modern UK urban life. Smith wrote short stories while studying for a degree in English at Cambridge and these were impressive enough for her to be offered a considerable publishing advance for what became White Teeth while she was still an undergraduate. The Autograph Man (2002) earned her further plaudits. Smith’s third novel, On Beauty, is due to be published in 2005, while Fail Better, a nonfiction book on writing, is expected in 2006. |
 |
 |
< Monica Ali Like Zadie Smith, Monica Ali’s reputation was established with a stunning first novel, Brick Lane (2003). Set in the heart of London’s Bangladeshi community and in Bangladesh itself, Brick Lane was an instant best-seller and undisputed critical success. Ali received a number of nominations and awards for Brick Lane. Granta magazine even included her on its 2003 list of the 20 best young British novelists on the basis of an unfinished manuscript. A tale of two sisters, Brick Lane draws on the writer’s own background in Dhaka, Bolton and Oxford University, allowing her to write passionately and perceptively about Bangladesh and the UK. Her follow-up novel is eagerly anticipated. |
| Philip
Pullman > Born in Norwich in 1946, Philip Pullman has forged a career as one of the UK’s most successful children’s writers. Pullman’s first children’s book, Count Karlstein (1982), was followed by The Ruby in the Smoke (1986), the first in a quartet of books featuring young Victorian adventurer, Sally Lockhart. His best-known work, the His Dark Materials trilogy (Northern Lights (1995), The Subtle Knife (1997) and The Amber Spyglass (2000)) received the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Children's Book Award. The Amber Spyglass won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award, the first time it has ever been awarded to a children's book. Like the more famous Harry Potter novels by J.K. Rowling, Pullman’s work – including the beautifully illustrated Lyra’s Oxford (2003) – is just as popular with adult readers as it is with the children for whom it is intended. |
 |
 |
< Irvine Welsh Born in Scotland in 1958,Welsh has made a name for himself with gritty novels about the darker side of Scottish life. Welsh’s first novel, Trainspotting, a black comedy concerning the exploits of a group of young heroin users in 1980s Edinburgh, won the 1994 Scottish Arts Council Book Award and was made into a film starring Ewan McGregor in 1996. A collection of short stories, The Acid House (1994) was followed by a second novel, Marabou Stork Nightmares (1995), another collection of stories, Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance (1996) and further novels Filth (1998) and Glue (2001). Porno (2002), a sequel to Trainspotting, was shortlisted for the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award.Welsh has also written two plays and writes for Loaded magazine and The Guardian newspaper. |
| Helen Fielding > One of the UK’s most distinctive comic writers, Fielding is best known for her novel Bridget Jones’s Diary (1996) and its sequel Bridget Jones:The Edge of Reason (1999). Perhaps the best-loved fictional diarist since Adrian Mole, Bridget Jones – funny, headstrong, insecure and very English – has captured the public imagination to the extent that Visit London has planned a ‘Bridget Jones walk’. Born in West Yorkshire in 1960, Fielding studied English at Oxford before training as a journalist. She had already written one novel, Cause Celeb (1994) when Bridget Jones’s Diary began life as a column in The Independent newspaper. Loosely based on Jane Austen’s classic, Pride and Prejudice (1813), the novel focuses on a central female protagonist, a character called Darcy and a love-hate-love relationship. Interestingly, Colin Firth played the role of Mr Darcy in the BBC television adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, as well as Darcy in both Bridget Jones films (2001, 2004). Fielding’s deft comic touch is similarly evident in her latest work, Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination (2003). |
 |
 |
< Iain Banks The author of more than 20 books, Banks is one of contemporary fiction’s most versatile writers. Born in Scotland in 1954, Bank’s first novel The Wasp Factory (1984) revealed him to be an original voice in fiction. He went on to write a further 12 novels under this name, and he has also published a string of massively successful science fiction novels, beginning with Consider Phlebas (1987), under the name of Iain M. Banks. In contrast to his other work, Banks’ science fiction novels are massive sprawling sagas in which he allows his imagination free rein as he creates and explores fantastic new worlds. |
| Ian McEwan > One of the most prolific writers of his generation, McEwan has received dozens of awards. McEwan started out as a writer of short stories, producing two volumes – First Love, Last Rites (1975), which won him the Somerset Maugham Award, and In Between the Sheets (1978) – before he published his first novel. The Cement Garden (1978), the story of an incestuous relationship between a brother and sister, was followed by The Comfort of Strangers (1981), which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the Whitbread Novel Award-winning The Child in Time (1987), Enduring Love (1997) and Amsterdam (1998), which was awarded the Booker Prize. His most recent novel, Atonement (2001), was shortlisted for both the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Novel Award. McEwan was awarded a CBE in 2000. |
 |
 |
< J.K. Rowling J.K. Rowling has become one of the world’s best-loved writers, and the UK’s wealthiest woman. For those not in the know, she is the author of the remarkable Harry Potter novels, which have smashed publishing records everywhere. The most recent, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003), was the fastest-selling book of all time. Five Harry Potter books have been published to date and a total of seven are planned, one for each of Harry’s school years. The publication of the eagerly awaited sixth volume, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince will be a massive literary event. Film adaptations of the books have been well received and fans eager to find out what will happen in the final two volumes should ask screenwriter Steve Kloves – Rowling admits she has told him nearly everything she has planned for the future. |
