With a literary history boasting dudes like E.M. Forster, George Orwell and Virginia Wolff (not to mention William Shakespeare), it’s no wonder the British hold such high standards when it comes to awarding authors praise. After the New Yorker’s recent article listing the top 20 American fiction writers under the age of 40, the UK Telegraph has responded with its own list of the young voices defining British literature.
Here’s a basic introduction to the top five authors on the list.
Name Chris Cleave
Recommended Reading: “The Other Hand”
Why At once harrowing and humane, the novel focuses on two female characters: ‘Little Bee’ – a stowaway refugee from war torn Nigeria; and middle-class English mother Sarah O’Rourke whose lives intersect. An absorbing, eloquent and challenging story that is uplifting and heartbreaking.
Name Rana Dasgupta
Recommended Reading: “Solo”
Why The British-Indian novelist won the 2010 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for this remarkable, existential story about the life of a 100-year-old Bulgarian chemist. Salman Rushdie is a fan.
Name Adam Foulds
Recommended Reading: “The Quickening Maze”
Why This fictional account of real life poet John Clare’s descent into insanity is poignant and compelling. British/historical narrative with sparse, contemporary prose.
Name Sarah Hall
Recommended Reading: “Haweswater”
Why Hall is one of the most acclaimed novelists of the bunch. “Haweswater” is a lush, haunting period piece set in 1930s rural Cumbria (where the author lives). Super intense with a similarly foreboding feel as “Wuthering Heights”.
Name Steven Hall
Recommended Reading: “The Raw Shark Texts”
Why You’ve probably heard of his lauded 2007 debut, a surreal conceptual story of a man who loses his memory and tries to create a new identity. Extraordinarily creative story, rumoured to be adapted into a screenplay by Slumdog Millionaire writer, Simon Beaufoy.
THE REST OF THE LIST:
6 Mohsin Hamid
7 Anjali Joseph
8 Joanna Kavenna
9 Benjamin Markovits
10 China Miéville
11 Paul Murray
12 Patrick Neate
13 Ross Raisin
14 Dan Rhodes
15 Kamila Shamsie
16 Zadie Smith
17 David Szalay
18 Adam Thirlwell
19 Scarlett Thomas
20 Evie Wyld
Experience the best of Britain now!
Via Telegraph
