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A. L. Kennedy

Scottish writer, academic and stand-up comedian

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, blending of realism and fantasy, and for her serious approach to her work. She contributes columns and reviews to European newspapers.

Contents

  • 1 Biography
  • 2 Awards and honours
  • 3 Works
    • 3.1 Novels
    • 3.2 Short story collections
    • 3.3 Non-fiction
    • 3.4 Screenwriting
    • 3.5 Selected radio
  • 4 References
  • 5 External links

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.

From 1987 to 1989, 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.

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. In 2016, her novel Serious Sweet was long-listed for the Man 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."

In 2020 she began contributing a column on her views of Brexit to the German daily paper Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Kennedy currently lives in Wivenhoe and has been an *ociate professor in Creative Writing at the University of Warwick 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.

Awards and honours

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

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
  • 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.
  • Subterranean Homesick Blues (Beginning 2015), broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from 14 sept, 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

    A. L. Kennedy Is A Member Of

    58 Year Olds

    A.

    Dundee, Scotland