David Stephen Mitchell (born 12 January 1969) is an English novelist, screenwriter, and translator. He has written nine novels, two of which, '' number9dream'' (2001) and '' Cloud Atlas'' (2004), were shortlisted for the

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

. He has also written articles for several newspapers, most notably 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 ...

''. He has translated books about

autism Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...

from Japanese to English.

Early life

Mitchell was born in

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

in Lancashire (now

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

), England, and raised in

Malvern, Worcestershire Malvern (, locally also: ) is a spa town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Worcestershire, England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The centre of Malvern, Great Malvern, is ...

. He was educated at Hanley Castle High School. At the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

, he earned a degree in English and

American Literature American literature is literature written or produced in the United States of America and in the British colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature, but also ...

, followed by an M.A. in

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 ...

. Mitchell lived in

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

for a year. He moved to

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...

, Japan, where he taught English to technical students for eight years, before returning to England. There he could live on his earnings as a writer and support his pregnant wife.

Career

Prose

Mitchell's first novel, '' Ghostwritten'' (1999), takes place in locations ranging from

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

to pre-millennial New York City, as nine narrators tell stories that interlock and intersect. It won the

John Llewellyn Rhys Prize The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize was a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of literature (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or drama) by an author from the Commonwealth aged 35 or under, written in English and published in the United Kin ...

(for best work of British literature written by an author under 35) and was shortlisted for the

Guardian First Book Award The Guardian First Book Award was a literary award presented by ''The Guardian'' newspaper. It annually recognised one book by a new writer. It was established in 1999, replacing the Guardian Fiction Award or Guardian Fiction Prize that the newspa ...

. His two subsequent novels, '' number9dream'' (2001) and '' Cloud Atlas'' (2004), were both favourably received and shortlisted for the

Man Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

. In 2003, he was selected as one of

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story's supreme ability to describe, illuminate and make ...

's Best of Young British Novelists. In 2007, Mitchell was listed among ''Time'' magazine's 100 Most Influential People in The World. In 2012, his

metafiction Metafiction is a form of fiction that emphasizes its own narrative structure in a way that inherently reminds the audience that they are reading or viewing a fictional work. Metafiction is self-conscious about language, literary form, and story ...

al novel '' Cloud Atlas'' (again, with multiple narrators), was adapted as a feature film of the same name. One segment of ''number9dream'' was adapted as a short film titled '' The Voorman Problem'' and starring

Martin Freeman Martin John Christopher Freeman (born 8 September 1971) is an English actor. Among other accolades, he has won two Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Freeman's most ...

. It was nominated for a BAFTA in 2013. In addition to novels, Mitchell has written opera libretti in recent years. ''Wake'', with music by Klaas de Vries, was based on the 2000

Enschede fireworks disaster The Enschede fireworks disaster was a catastrophic fireworks explosion on 13 May 2000 in Enschede, Netherlands. The explosion killed 23 people including four firefighters and injured 950 others. A total of 400 homes were destroyed and 1,500 bui ...

. It was performed by the Dutch Nationale Reisopera in 2010. He created the opera, ''Sunken Garden'', with Dutch composer Michel van der Aa; it was premiered in 2013 by the

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is a British opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in E ...

. Several of Mitchell's book covers were created by design duo Kai and Sunny. Mitchell has also collaborated with the duo, by contributing two short stories to their art exhibits in 2011 and 2014. Mitchell's sixth novel, '' The Bone Clocks'', was published in 2014. In an interview in ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...

'', Mitchell said that the novel has "dollops of the fantastic in it", and is about "stuff between life and death". ''The Bone Clocks'' was longlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize. Mitchell was the second author to contribute to the Future Library project. He delivered his book '' From Me Flows What You Call Time'' on 28 May 2016. '' Utopia Avenue'', Mitchell's ninth novel, was published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2020, during the first year of the

Covid 19 pandemic Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. ''Utopia Avenue'' tells the "unexpurgated story" of a British band of the same name, who emerged from London's psychedelic scene in 1967 and was "fronted by folk singer Elf Holloway, guitar demigod Jasper de Zoet and blues bassist Dean Moss". Mitchell's entire body of fictional works feature multiple recurring characters and themes that together form an interconnected fictional world, which Mitchell refers to as his 'macronovel'.

Screenwriting

Following the release of the 2012 film adaptation of ''Cloud Atlas'', Mitchell began work as a screenwriter with

Lana Wachowski Lana Wachowski (born Larry Wachowski, June 21, 1965) and Lilly Wachowski (born Andy Wachowski, December 29, 1967) are American film and television directors, writers and producers. The sisters are both trans women. Together known as the Wacho ...

(one of ''Cloud Atlas'' three directors). In 2015, Mitchell contributed plotting and scripted scenes for the second season of the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series '' Sense8'' by

the Wachowskis Lana Wachowski (born Larry Wachowski, June 21, 1965) and Lilly Wachowski (born Andy Wachowski, December 29, 1967) are American film and television directors, writers and producers. The sisters are both trans women. Together known as the Wacho ...

. They had adapted the novel for a TV series, and together with Aleksandar Hemon, they wrote the series finale. Mitchell had signed a contract to write season three of the series, but Netflix cancelled the show. In August 2019, it was announced that Mitchell would continue his collaboration with Lana Wachowski and Hemon to write the screenplay for ''

The Matrix Resurrections ''The Matrix Resurrections'' is a 2021 American science fiction action film co-produced, co-written, and directed by Lana Wachowski, and the first in the ''Matrix'' franchise to be directed solely by Lana. It is the sequel to '' The Matrix Re ...

''.

Personal life

After another stint in Japan, Mitchell and his wife, Keiko Yoshida, live in Ardfield, County Cork, Ireland, . They have two children. In an essay for

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

, Mitchell wrote: Mitchell has a stammer."Lost for words"
, David Mitchell, ''Prospect'' magazine, 23 February 2011, Issue No. 180 He believes that the film ''

The King's Speech ''The King's Speech'' is a 2010 historical drama film directed by Tom Hooper and written by David Seidler. Colin Firth plays the future King George VI who, to cope with a stammer, sees Lionel Logue, an Australian speech and language ther ...

'' (2010) is one of the most accurate portrayals of that experience for an individual. He said, "I'd probably still be avoiding the subject today had I not outed myself by writing a semi-autobiographical novel, ''Black Swan Green'', narrated by a stammering 13-year-old." Mitchell is a patron of the

British Stammering Association British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and cultur ...

. Mitchell's son is autistic. In 2013, Mitchell and his wife Yoshida translated a book into English that was written by Naoki Higashida, a 13-year-old Japanese autistic boy, titled '' The Reason I Jump: One Boy's Voice from the Silence of Autism''. In 2017, Mitchell and his wife translated a second book attributed to Higashida, '' Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8: A Young Man's Voice from the Silence of Autism''.

List of works

Novels *'' Ghostwritten'' (1999) *'' number9dream'' (2001) *'' Cloud Atlas'' (2004) *'' Black Swan Green'' (2006) *''

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet ''The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet'' is an historical fiction novel by British author David Mitchell published by Sceptre in 2010. It is set during the Dutch trading concession with Japan in the late 18th century, during the period of Ja ...

'' (2010) *'' The Bone Clocks'' (2014) *'' Slade House'' (2015) *'' Utopia Avenue'' (2020) Novellas *'' From Me Flows What You Call Time'' (2016; publishing delayed until ) Short stories Opera

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

s *"Wake" opera in four acts (May 2010) by Klaas de Vries (composer),

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

by René Uijlenhoet for Nationale Reisopera *"Sunken Garden"(12 April 2013), film opera for

at Barbican Theatre Selected articles *"Japan and my writing", Essay *"Enter the Maze", ''The Guardian'', 2004 *"Kill me or the cat gets it", ''The Guardian'', 2005 (Book review of

Kafka on the Shore is a 2002 novel by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. Its 2005 English translation was among "The 10 Best Books of 2005" from ''The New York Times'' and received the World Fantasy Award for 2006. The book tells the stories of the young Kafka Tamu ...

) *"Let me speak", British Stammering Association, 2006 *"On historical fiction", ''The Daily Telegraph'', 2010 *"Adventures in Opera", ''The Guardian'', 2010 *"Imaginary City", ''

Geist ''Geist'' () is a German noun with a significant degree of importance in German philosophy. ''Geist'' can be roughly translated into three English meanings: ghost (as in the supernatural entity), spirit (as in the Holy Spirit), and mind or int ...

'', 2010 *"Lost for words", ''Prospect'', 2011 *"Learning to live with my son's autism", ''The Guardian'', 2013 *"David Mitchell on Earthsea – a rival to Tolkien and George RR Martin", ''The Guardian'', 23 October 2015 *"

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer. Bush began writing songs at age 11. She was signed to EMI Records after David Gilmour of Pink Floyd helped produce a demo tape. In 1978, at the ...

and me: David Mitchell on being a lifelong fan of the pop poet". ''The Guardian'', 7 December 2018 Other *"The Earthgod and the Fox", 2012 (translation of a short story by Kenji Miyazawa; translation printed in ''McSweeney's'' Issue 42, 2012) *'' The Reason I Jump: One Boy's Voice from the Silence of Autism'', 2013 (translation of book by Naoki Higashida) *" Before the Dawn", 2014 (with

co-wrote two spoken scenes during ''The Ninth Wave'' sequence in this live production). *'' Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8'', 2017 (translation of Naoki Higashida's work) *"Amor Vincit Omnia", 2018; '' Sense8'' episode *''

'', 2021 (feature film screenplay co-written with

and Aleksandar Hemon)

References

Sources

*"The world begins its turn with you, or how David Mitchell's novels think". In B. Schoene. ''The Cosmopolitan Novel''. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009. *Dillon, S. (ed.). ''David Mitchell: Critical Essays''. Kent: Gylphi, 2011. *

External links

Official websiteDavid Mitchell's profile
at the official

site * * *
David Mitchell - How I Write
Untitled Books, May 2010
"Get Writing: Playing With Structure" by David Mitchell
at

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

.co
"Character Development" by David Mitchell
a short story from ''

'' (2009)
"David Mitchell, the Experimentalist"
''New York Times Magazine'', June 2010
"The Floating Library: What can't the novelist David Mitchell do?"
''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', 5 July 2010
"The Art of Scriptwriting: David Mitchell on Matrix 4"
, at the 21. '' international literature festival, Berlin'', 10 September 2021 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, David 1969 births 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English translators 21st-century English novelists 21st-century British translators Alumni of the University of Kent Autism activists English expatriates in Ireland English expatriates in Italy English expatriates in Japan Japanese–English translators John Llewellyn Rhys Prize winners Living people People educated at Hanley Castle High School People from Southport British postmodern writers Teachers of English as a second or foreign language World Fantasy Award–winning writers Writers from Worcestershire English male novelists People with speech disorders English writers with disabilities