Joe Stretch (born 7 January 1982) is an English writer and singer. His first novel, ''Friction'', was published by

Vintage Books at Random House Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was purchased by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random Hous ...

in 2008. His second novel, ''Wildlife'', was published in 2009. His visceral, savage writing style has led to comparisons with French novelist Michel Houellebecq. His third book, ''The Adult'', was released in August 2012. It won the Somerset Maugham Award and was shortlisted for the Portico Prize. In his review of ''Wildlife'' in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'', Lee Rourke describes the book as "a serious meditation on technology and individualism." In 2010 Stretch wrote the first ever

Choose Your Own Adventure ''Choose Your Own Adventure'' is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actio ...

audio novel to appear on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

. It was read by the actress Anna Friel and marked the release of the debut album by the band

Hurts Hurts are an English musical duo formed in Manchester in 2009, consisting of singer Theo Hutchcraft and multi-instrumentalist Adam Anderson. They have released five studio albums: ''Happiness'' (2010), '' Exile'' (2013), '' Surrender'' (2015) ...

. Stretch grew up in

Burton-in-Kendal Burton-in-Kendal is a village and civil parish on the extreme southern edge of Cumbria, England. The parish contains around 660 houses and in the 2001 census had a population of 1,411, increasing at the 2011 census to 1,497. Historically wi ...

. He studied politics at

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Unive ...

and sings in the band (we are) Performance. The other members of the band are Laura Marsden on guitar, Joe Cross on drums. Hilary Marsden (Laura's sister) was also a member of the band prior to the release of their self-titled debut album in 2007. The group met whilst they were at university in Manchester. He has lectured in Creative Writing at

Keele University Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, Kee ...

, and

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

References

External links

* https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/215777/joe-stretch * https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/friction-by-joe-stretch-801555.html * https://web.archive.org/web/20110723002407/http://www.academicworld.net/academic-leben/reviews/buch/joe-stretch-widerstand.html * https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/talent-issue--the-novelist-joe-stretch-766036.html * http://www.aaamusic.co.uk/2010/08/31/joe-stretch-and-hurts-collaborate-on-interactive-novel/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Stretch, Joe 1982 births 21st-century English novelists Living people People from Carnforth Alumni of the University of Manchester English male singers English male novelists 21st-century English male writers 21st-century English singers 21st-century British male singers Writers from Lancashire People from Burton-in-Kendal