Gwendoline Riley (born 19 February 1979) is a British writer.

Early life and education

Riley was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England, in 1979. She attended

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Education ...

Career

Riley's first novel, ''Cold Water'', was named one of the five outstanding

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 ...

s of 2002 by ''

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 ...

'' "Weekend" magazine and also won a

Betty Trask Award The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are for first novels written by authors under the age of 35 who reside in a current or former Commonwealth nation. Each year the awards total at least , with normally one author receiving a larger prize amount ( ...

. ''Sick Notes'' followed in 2004 and ''Joshua Spassky'' in 2007. For ''Cold Water'' and ''Sick Notes'', the drama unfolds in Manchester, occasionally extending to different areas of Lancashire. ''Joshua Spassky'', however, is set in

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. Located at the confluence of the French Broad River, French Broad and Swannanoa River, Swannanoa rivers, it is the county seat of Buncombe County. It is the most populou ...

— the town where

Zelda Fitzgerald Zelda Fitzgerald (; July 24, 1900 – March 10, 1948) was an American novelist, painter, and socialite. Born in Montgomery, Alabama, to a wealthy Southern family, she became locally famous for her beauty and high spirits. In 1920, she marri ...

died in a fire at the Highland Hospital. ''Joshua Spassky'' won the 2008

Somerset Maugham Award The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each year by the Society of Authors The Society of Authors (SoA) is a United Kingdom trade union for professional writers, illustrators and literary translators, founded in 1884 to ...

and was shortlisted for the 2007

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 ...

. Her fourth novel, ''Opposed Positions'', was published in May 2012. Her fifth novel, ''First Love'', was published in February 2017 and was shortlisted for the

Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–2012), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017) is one of the United Kingdom's ...

, the Gordon Burn Prize, the

Goldsmiths Prize The Goldsmiths Prize is a British literary award, founded in 2013 by Goldsmiths, University of London, in association with the ''New Statesman.'' It is awarded annually to a British or Irish piece of fiction that "breaks the mould or extends the ...

, the

Dylan Thomas Prize The Dylan Thomas Prize is a leading prize for young writers presented annually. The prize, named in honour of the Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas, brings international prestige and a remuneration of £30,000 (~$46,000). It is open to published w ...

and the

James Tait Black Memorial Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Un ...

. It won the

Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize The Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize is a British literary prize established in 1963 in tribute to Geoffrey Faber, founder and first Chairman of the publisher Faber & Faber. It recognises a single volume of poetry or fiction by a United Kingdom, Iri ...

. Her sixth novel, ''My Phantoms'', published in 2021, was shortlisted for the

Folio Prize The Writers' Prize, previously known as the Rathbones Folio Prize, the Folio Prize and The Literature Prize, is a literary award that was sponsored by the London-based publisher The Folio Society for its first two years, 2014–2015. Starting ...

. In June 2018 Riley was elected 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 ...

in its "40 Under 40" initiative.

Bibliography

* ''Cold Water'' (2002) * '' Sick Notes'' (2004) * '' Tuesday Nights and Wednesday Mornings: A Novella and Stories'' (2004) * '' Joshua Spassky'' (2007) * '' Opposed Positions'' (2012) * '' First Love'' (2017) * '' My Phantoms'' (2021) * '' The Palm House'' (2026)

Awards and honours

* 2002

for ''Cold Water''. * 2007 shortlisted for the

, for ''Joshua Spassky''. * 2008

, for ''Joshua Spassky''. * 2017 shortlisted for the

, for ''First Love''. * 2017 shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize, for ''First Love''. * 2017 shortlisted for the

, for ''First Love''. * 2017 shortlisted for the

, for ''First Love''. * 2017

, for ''First Love''. * 2022 shortlisted for the

, for ''My Phantoms''.

References

External links

'Dotpod' podcast interview from run-riot.com
* ttps://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/may/03/opposed-positions-gwendoline-riley-review Guardian review of ''Opposed Positions'', by Anne Enrightbr>Scotsman review of ''Opposed Positions'', by Stuart Kelly
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riley, Gwendoline 1979 births Living people 21st-century English novelists Alumni of Manchester Metropolitan University Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature English women novelists Novelists from London