A. L. Kennedy

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox 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.<ref>"Am Rande des Wahnsinns" ("On the Edge of Insanity") in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, 23/24 October 2021, p. 15. A full-page article about a visit to the Channel Islands, translated to German from the original English by Annette Meyer-Prien.</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref>

From 1987 to 1989,Template: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.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" />

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.<ref>"Telling Tales", The Spectator, 1 July 2009.</ref> In 2016, her novel Serious Sweet was long-listed for the Booker Prize.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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."<ref name="theguardian1">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="theguardian2">Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2020 she began contributing a column on her views of Brexit to the German daily paper Süddeutsche Zeitung.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Kennedy currently lives in the Scottish Highlands, having moved from Wivenhoe<ref>[1], 3 June 2016</ref> and has been an associate professor in creative writing at the University of Warwick<ref>"AL Kennedy" Template:Webarchive, Courses, Creative Writing, Staff, University of Warwick</ref> since 2007, having previously taught creative writing at the University of St Andrews from 2003 to 2007.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

By 2006, she had been doing stand up comedy performances in clubs in Scotland.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>"AL Kennedy: interview", Daily Telegraph, 5 August 2011</ref>

Her 2023 novel Template:Lang was first published in German rather than in the original English.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Awards and honours

• Scottish Arts Council Book Award four times<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1993, 2003 Granta Best Young British Novelist<ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1991 Saltire Society Scottish First Book of the Year, Night Geometry and the Garscadden Trains<ref name=":1" />
• 1993 Edinburgh Fringe First, The Audition<ref name=":1" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1994 Somerset Maugham Award, Looking for the Possible Dance<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1996 Encore Award winner, So I Am Glad<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1999 Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2007 Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year, Day<ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2007 Lannan Literary Award for Fiction<ref name=":0" />
• 2007 Austrian State Prize for European Literature winner<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 2007 Costa Book Awards Book of the Year, winner for Day<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 2008 Internationale Eifel-Literatur-Preis<ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2014 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award shortlist All the Rage<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2016 Heinrich Heine Prize<ref>Acceptance speech, 11.12.2016 in Düsseldorf</ref>
• 2016 Ehrenpreis des Österreichischen Buchhandels für Toleranz in Denken und Handeln<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Works

Novels

• Looking for the Possible Dance (1993) Template:ISBN
• So I Am Glad (1995) Template:ISBN
• Everything You Need (1999) Template:ISBN
• Paradise (2004) Template:ISBN
• Day (2007) Template:ISBN
• The Blue Book (2011) Template:ISBN
• Doctor Who: The Drosten's Curse (2015) Template:ISBN
• Serious Sweet (2016) Template:ISBN
• The Little Snake (2018) Template:ISBN
• Alive in the Merciful Country (2024) Template:ISBN
  • German: Als lebten wir in einem barmherzigen Land (2023) Template:ISBN

Short story collections

• Night Geometry and the Garscadden Trains (1990) Template:ISBN
• Now That You're Back (1994) Template:ISBN
• Tea and Biscuits (1996) Template:ISBN
• Original Bliss (1997) Template:ISBN
• Indelible Acts (2002) Template:ISBN
• What Becomes (2009) Template:ISBN
• All the Rage (2014) Template:ISBN
• We Are Attempting to Survive Our Time (2020) Template:ISBN

Non-fiction

• Life & Death of Colonel Blimp (1997) Template:ISBN
• On Bullfighting (1999) Template:ISBN
• On Writing (2013) Template:ISBN

Film and TV

"Stella Does Tricks (1996) Channel 4 films "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<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 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<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Subterranean Homesick Blues (5 series beginning 2015), broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from 14 September 2015
• A Single Act (first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 25th Dec, 2023)

External links

• Template:Official website
• Template:British council
• Profile at The Guardian
• A. L. Kennedy reading at writLOUD in London