Ali Smith CBE

FRSL The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the ...

(born 24 August 1962) is a Scottish author, playwright, academic and journalist. Sebastian Barry described her in 2016 as "Scotland's

Nobel laureate The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...

-in-waiting".

Early life and education

Smith was born in

Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...

on 24 August 1962 to Ann and Donald Smith. Her parents were working-class and she was raised in a council house in Inverness. From 1967 to 1974 she attended St. Joseph's RC Primary school, then went on to Inverness High School, leaving in 1980. She studied a joint degree in English language and literature at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

from 1980 to 1985, coming first in her class in 1982 and gaining a top first in Senior Honours English in 1984. She won the university's Bobby Aitken Memorial Prize for Poetry in 1984. From 1985 to 1990 she attended

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

, studying for a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in American and Irish modernism. During her time at Cambridge, she began writing plays and as a result, did not complete her doctorate. Smith moved to

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

from Cambridge in 1990 and worked as a lecturer in Scottish, English and American literature at the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde () is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal charter in 1964 as the first techn ...

. She left the university in 1992 because she was suffering from

chronic fatigue syndrome Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a disabling Chronic condition, chronic illness. People with ME/CFS experience profound fatigue that does not go away with rest, as well as sleep issues and problems with memory ...

. She returned to Cambridge to recuperate. As a young woman, Smith held several part-time jobs including waitress, lettuce-cleaner, tourist board assistant, receptionist at BBC Highland and advertising

copywriter Copywriting is the act or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. Copywriting is aimed at selling products or services. The product, called copy or sales copy, is written content that aims to incre ...

Career

While studying for her PhD at Cambridge, Smith wrote several plays which were staged at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

and

Cambridge Footlights The Cambridge Footlights, commonly referred to simply as Footlights, is a student sketch comedy troupe located in Cambridge, England. Footlights was founded in 1883, and is one of Britain's oldest student sketch comedy troupes. The comedy so ...

. After some time working in Scotland, she returned to Cambridge to concentrate on her writing, in particular, focussing on short stories and freelancing as the fiction reviewer for ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

'' newspaper. In 1995, she published her first book, '' Free Love and Other Stories'', a collection of 12 short stories which won the Saltire First Book of the Year award and Scottish Arts Council Book Award. She writes articles for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', ''The Scotsman'', ''

New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...

'' and ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

''. In 2009, she donated the short story "Last" (previously published in the ''Manchester Review'' online) to Oxfam's " Ox-Tales" project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the "Fire" collection.

Personal life

Smith lives in Cambridge with her partner, filmmaker Sarah Wood.

Awards and honours

In 2007, Smith was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

. She was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to literature. An honorary doctorate ( D.Litt) was awarded to her by

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

in 2019. In 2024, she was awarded the Bodley Medal for contributions to literature, the highest honour of the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

Literary awards

Works

Novels

*''

Like In English, the word ''like'' has a very flexible range of uses, ranging from conventional to non-standard. It can be used as a noun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, particle, conjunction, hedge, filler, quotative, and semi-suffix. U ...

'' (1997) *'' Hotel World'' (2001) *''

The Accidental ''The Accidental'' is a 2005 novel by Scottish author Ali Smith. It follows a middle-class English family who are visited by an uninvited guest, Amber, while they are on holiday in a small village in Norfolk. Amber's arrival has a profound e ...

'' (2005) *'' Girl Meets Boy'' (2007) *'' There But For The'' (2011) *'' Artful'' (2012) * '' How to Be Both'' (2014) * ''

Autumn Autumn, also known as fall (especially in US & Canada), is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southern Hemisphe ...

'' (2016) * ''

Winter Winter is the coldest and darkest season of the year in temperate and polar climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Dif ...

'' (2017) * '' Spring'' (2019) * ''

Summer Summer or summertime is the hottest and brightest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, daylight hours are the longest and darkness hours are the shortest, with day ...

'' (2020) * '' Companion Piece'' (2022) * ''Gliff'' (2024)

Short story collections

*'' Free Love and Other Stories'' (1995), awarded the Saltire First Book of the Year award and Scottish Arts Council Book Award *''Other Stories and Other Stories'' (1999) *'' The Whole Story and Other Stories'' (2003) *'' The First Person and Other Stories'' (2008) *'' Public Library and Other Stories'' (2015)

Plays

*''Stalemate'' (1986), unpublished, produced at the

*''The Dance'' (1988), unpublished, produced at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe *''Trace of Arc'' (1989), produced at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe *''Daughters of England'' (1989-1990), unpublished, Cambridge Footlights *''Amazons'' (1990), Cambridge Footlights *''Comic'' (1990), unpublished, produced at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe *''The Seer'' (2001) *''Just'' (2005)

Other

*''Shire'' (2013), with images by Sarah Wood: short stories and autobiographical writing. Full Circle Editions.

Other projects

*Ali Smith partnered with the Scottish band Trashcan Sinatras and wrote the lyrics to a song called "Half An Apple", a love song about keeping half an apple spare for a loved one who is gone. The song was released on 5 March 2007, on the album '' Ballads of the Book''. *In 2008, Smith produced '' The Book Lover'', a collection of her favourite writing, including pieces from

Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet and author. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for '' The Colossus and Other Poems'' (1960), '' Ariel'' (1965), a ...

Muriel Spark Dame Muriel Sarah Spark (; 1 February 1918 – 13 April 2006). was a List of Scottish novelists, Scottish novelist, short story writer, poet and essayist. Life Muriel Camberg was born in the Bruntsfield area of Edinburgh, the daughter of Bernar ...

, Grace Paley, and

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian novelist, poet, literary critic, and an inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight chi ...

. It also includes work from writers such as Joseph Roth and Clarice Lispector. *In 2008, Smith contributed the short story "Writ" to an anthology supporting

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization. It was founded in the UK in 1919; its goal is to improve the lives of children worldwide. The organization raises money to imp ...

. The anthology is entitled ''The Children's Hours'' and was published by Arcadia Books. Foreign editions have been published in Portugal, Italy, China and Korea. *In 2011 she wrote a short memoir for ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'' in their "Once upon a life" series: "Looking back on her life, writer Ali Smith returns to the moment of conception to weave a poignant and funny memoir of an irreverent father, a weakness for Greek musicals and a fateful border crossing." *In October 2011, Smith published ''The Story of Antigone'', a retelling of the

classic A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of Masterpiece, lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or Literary merit, highest quality, class, or rank – something that Exemplification, exemplifies its ...

created by

Sophocles Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...

. It is part of the "Save the stories" series by Pushkin Children’s Books and is illustrated by Laura Paoletti. *In October 2012, Smith read a sermon at

Manchester Cathedral Manchester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George, in Manchester, England, is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Manchester, seat of the Bishop of Manchester and the c ...

to guests and students, followed by a book signing. *In 2013, Smith published ''Artful'', a book based on her lectures on European

comparative literature Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...

delivered the previous year at

St Anne's College, Oxford St Anne's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. ...

. ''Artful'' was well-received, with one reviewer commenting that, "...her new book, in which she tugs at God’s sleeve, ruminates on clowns, shoplifts used books, dabbles in Greek and palavers with the dead, is a stunner." *On 14 May 2013, Smith gave the

National Centre for Writing The National Centre for Writing, formerly Writers' Centre Norwich, is a literature development agency and national centre for writing based in Norwich, England. It led the successful bid for Norwich to be granted the UNESCO City of Literature tit ...

's inaugural

Harriet Martineau Harriet Martineau (12 June 1802 – 27 June 1876) was an English social theorist.Hill, Michael R. (2002''Harriet Martineau: Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives'' Routledge. She wrote from a sociological, holism, holistic, religious and ...

lecture, in celebration of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

's 2012

City of Literature UNESCO's City of Literature programme is part of the wider Creative Cities Network. The ''Network'' was launched in 2004, and now has member cities in seven creative fields. The other creative fields are: Crafts and Folk Arts, Design, Film ...

. * Smith is also a patron of the ''Visual Verse'' online anthology and her piece "Untitled", written in response to an image by artist Rupert Jessop, appears in the November 2014 edition. *On 10 September 2015, Smith was nominated Honorary Fellow by

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, formerly Goldsmiths College, University of London, is a constituent research university of the University of London. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by ...

. *In 2011, she contributed the short story "Scots Pine (A Valediction Forbidding Mourning)" to ''Why Willows Weep'', an anthology supporting The Woodland Trust. The paperback edition was released in 2016. *In July 2016, Smith was awarded an honorary doctorate from the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

. * Smith is a patron of Refugee Tales. In 2016, Smith's story "The Detainee's Tale" was published by Comma Press in ''Refugee Tales Volume 1''. * In May 2021, Smith contributed a short story entitle
"The final frontier"
to '' The European Review of Books''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Ali 1962 births Living people 20th-century British journalists 20th-century Scottish short story writers Scottish women short story writers 20th-century Scottish dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Scottish novelists 20th-century Scottish women writers 21st-century Scottish journalists 21st-century British short story writers 21st-century Scottish dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Scottish LGBTQ people 21st-century Scottish women writers 21st-century Scottish writers Academics of the University of Strathclyde Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Aberdeen British bisexual writers British women journalists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Goldsmiths Prize winners People educated at Inverness High School People from Inverness People with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome Scottish academics of English literature Scottish LGBTQ novelists Scottish scholars and academics Scottish women academics Scottish women dramatists and playwrights Scottish women novelists Writers from Cambridge