Fiona Mozley (born 1988)''Vogue'' interview, 16 October 201 Retrieved 24 May 2018. /ref> is an English novelist and
medievalist
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star.
Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
. Her
debut novel
A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...
, ''
Elmet
Elmet (), sometimes Elmed or Elmete, was an independent Brittonic Celtic
Cumbric-speaking kingdom between about the 4th century and mid-7th century.
The people of Elmet survived as a distinctly recognised Brittonic Celtic group for centuri ...
'', was shortlisted for the 2017
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 ...
.
Life and literature
Fiona Mozley was born in 1988 in the
London Borough of Hackney
The London Borough of Hackney ( ) is a London boroughs, London borough in Inner London, England. The historical and administrative heart of Hackney is Mare Street, which lies north-east of Charing Cross. The borough is named after Hackney, Lond ...
, and grew up in
York
York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...
, where she attended
Fulford School
Fulford School is a coeducational comprehensive school on Fulfordgate near Heslington Lane in Fulford, York, England.
History
Fulford School was founded in 1963 and has been a comprehensive school since 1970. The site is close to the former ...
. After graduating from
King's College, Cambridge
King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...
, Mozley lived in
Honor Oak
Honor Oak is an inner suburban area principally of the London Borough of Lewisham, with part in the London Borough of Southwark. It is named after the oak tree on One Tree Hill that Elizabeth I is reputed to have picnicked under.
Overview
One ...
and briefly taught English in Buenos Aires before moving back to York in 2013 for her
Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...
(MA). , she was in the midst of her PhD thesis at the
University of York
The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public Collegiate university, collegiate research university in York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thir ...
on the concept of decay in the
Late Middle Ages
The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the Periodization, period of History of Europe, European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period ( ...
. She also works part-time in a bookshop.
Mozley sees as York's most significant literature its
Mystery Plays
Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represe ...
. These along with local drama groups she views "as having influenced my own writing more significantly than any books I have read."Statement in ''The Guardian'', 27 January 201 Retrieved 24 May 2018. /ref> When asked at an earlier interview about writers and works she particularly enjoyed, she mentioned some by
Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy (born Charles Joseph McCarthy Jr.; July 20, 1933 – June 13, 2023) was an American author who wrote twelve novels, two plays, five screenplays, and three short stories, spanning the Western, post-apocalyptic, and Southern Got ...
and
Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin ( ; Kroeber; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author. She is best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the ''Earthsea'' fantas ...
, and by
Philip Pullman
Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman (born 19 October 1946) is an English writer. He is best known for the fantasy trilogy ''His Dark Materials''. The first volume, ''Northern Lights'' (1995), won the Carnegie Medal
, whom she had loved as a child. Mozley's novel ''Elmet'' appeared in the 2018
Irish Leaving Certificate
The Leaving Certificate Examination (), commonly referred to as the Leaving Cert or (informally) the Leaving (), is the final exam of the Irish secondary school system and the university matriculation examination in Ireland. It takes a minimu ...
English examination.
Mozley was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
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 ...
in 2022.
Work
The name "
Elmet
Elmet (), sometimes Elmed or Elmete, was an independent Brittonic Celtic
Cumbric-speaking kingdom between about the 4th century and mid-7th century.
The people of Elmet survived as a distinctly recognised Brittonic Celtic group for centuri ...
" is taken from a Celtic kingdom that once covered West Yorkshire. In the novel, Mozley "wanted to capture the ambiguity of local historical recollections; to say something about their double-edged thrall; to examine the desire to live in the past and the need to extricate oneself from it."
The novel ''Elmet'' is concerned strongly with the idea of home, "the building of a house, the preparation of food; stolen glimpses of a woman's wardrobe."J. Robert Lennon: "Scary Dad", ''London Review of Books'', 10 May 2018, pp. 35–37. This moves stealthily onto the fact that the 14-year-old narrator, Daniel, is not just domesticated, but must come to terms with being gay, or even transgender, while his older sister Cathy is a tomboy "raised in isolation by a man poorly suited to the job, and taught skills typically taken up by boys." "Daddy" is kind to his two children, but otherwise known to be violent. The father's concern is for the land: "the wilderness tamed by man's benevolent but dictatorial hand...
hat
A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...
provides fertile ground for the evil that men do." The front cover of the novel was illustrated by
Vanessa Lubach
Vanessa Lubach is a British artist noted for her unusually intricate and many-layered prints using linseed oil inks, as well as for her paintings and her book illustrations. She lives and works in Norfolk.
Training
Lubach grew up in rural Oxfor ...
using a multilayered
linocut
Linocut, also known as lino print, lino printing or linoleum art, is a printmaking technique, a variant of relief printing in which a sheet of linoleum (sometimes mounted on a wooden block) is used for a relief printing, relief surface. A design i ...
.
Mozley's second novel titled ''Hot Stew'' was published in 2021. Writing 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 ...
'', Alex Preston praised the work and said it confirmed the author was "a writer of extraordinary empathic gifts".