Kevin Sampson is a British

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

, best known for his novels ''Awaydays'' (1998), ''Powder'' (1999) and ''Stars Are Stars'' (2006). He lives in

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

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 ...

. His crime thriller, ''The Killing Pool'', was published by Cape on 21 March 2013.

Career

Sampson began writing gig reviews for

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

in the 80s, though was famously sacked by editor

Neil Spencer Neil Spencer is a British journalist, author, broadcaster and astrologer who lives in north London. He edited the ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') from 1978 to 1985 and was a founding editor of the men's magazine ''Arena'' and of the jazz/art ma ...

for reviewing a

Sex Gang Children Sex Gang Children are an early gothic rock and post-punk band that formed in early 1982 in Brixton in London, England. Although the original group only released one official studio album, their singles and various other tracks have been packa ...

concert at a Liverpool club that had been burned down on the night the band had been due to appear. He went on to contribute regularly to '' The Face'', ''

Arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

'', ''

i-D ''i-D'' is a British biannual magazine dedicated to fashion, music, art, film and youth culture. The magazine was launched in 1980 by Terry Jones, originally as a hand-stapled fanzine it has since evolved into a glossy publication. In 2023 the ...

'', '' Sounds'', '' Jamming'',

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'' ...

and '' Time Out'' before joining

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

as an assistant editor for Youth Programmes. He left C4 to set up Kinesis Films, a company that specialised in documentaries about

subculture A subculture is a group of people within a culture, cultural society that differentiates itself from the values of the conservative, standard or dominant culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures ...

s (notably ''Sole of the Nation'', a film about Dr. Martens boots, and ''Ibiza - A Short Film About Chilling''). Sampson returned to Merseyside in 1990 to help long-time friend

Peter Hooton Peter Joseph Hooton (born 28 September 1962 ) is the vocalist of Liverpool-based band (music), group The Farm (British band), the Farm. He was also its sole founder member in 1983, overseeing its rise to prominence with two top 10 singles in 199 ...

set up Produce Records with partners Ian Croft, Wayne Chand, Barney Moores and Paul McKenna. Produce enjoyed a string of

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

hits in the early 1990s, including The Farm's "

Groovy Train "Groovy Train" was the second single released by Liverpool-based group The Farm (British band), The Farm. It was released in 1990 as the first single from their debut album ''Spartacus (The Farm album), Spartacus'' (which would be released in 1 ...

" and " All Together Now". When The Farm broke up in 1994, Sampson dug out the manuscript to a

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most novelettes and short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) ...

he had sent to

Penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...

in 1982. ''Awaydays'' was based on what he saw during his youth, travelling to, and at, football grounds up and down the country. Inspired by

Irvine Welsh Irvine Welsh (born 27 September 1958) is a Scottish novelist and short story writer. His 1993 novel ''Trainspotting (novel), Trainspotting'' was made into a Trainspotting (film), film of the same name. He has also written plays and screenplays, ...

's debut ''

Trainspotting Trainspotting may refer to: * Trainspotting (hobby), an amateur interest in railways/railroads * ''Trainspotting'' (novel), a 1993 novel by Irvine Welsh ** ''Trainspotting'' (film), a 1996 film based on the novel *** ''Trainspotting'' (soundt ...

'', Sampson re-worked the novel, which was acquired by publisher Dan Franklin at

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a British publishing firm headquartered in London and founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard (1893–1968) set up the publishing house in ...

. ''Awaydays'' was an immediate critical and commercial success on its release in 1998. Sampson's second novel, ''Powder'', reflects some of his experiences of the music business with The Farm and Produce Records, and subsequent adventures in

Ibiza Ibiza (; ; ; #Names and pronunciation, see below) or Iviza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of th ...

, and working for

Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English business magnate who co-founded the Virgin Group in 1970, and controlled 5 companies remaining of once more than 400. Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneu ...

's V2 Music. ''Awaydays'' was adapted to film in 2009. He writes about his involvement in the Ibiza film ''A Short Film About Chilling'' in the Summer 2010 ''

Umbrella Magazine ''Umbrella Magazine'' was a British magazine focusing on cities, with an emphasis on design, style and culture. The co-founders were Anthony Teasdale and Matt Reynolds. Teasdale is a journalist who has written for ''Arena (magazine), Arena'', ''Es ...

s Issue 1 and a film version of ''Powder'' was released August 2011. ''Surveillance'', a film from one of Sampson's original screenplays, was in competition at the

Berlinale The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

's "Panorama" section in 2008, and his forthcoming crime thriller ''Gangsterland'' is under option with Red Union Films. In January 2018, Sampson was hired to pen new mini-series

Anne Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), Annie a ...

, produced by

ITV Studios ITV Studios Limited is a British multinational television media company owned by British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcasters, and is ba ...

owned

World Productions World Productions Limited is a British television production company, founded on 20 March 1990 by producer Tony Garnett, and owned by ITV plc following a takeover in 2017. History The company's first major series was the police drama '' Betwe ...

' for ITV, which centres on Anne Williams' crusade for justice after the death of her son Kevin in the

Hillsborough disaster The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal crowd crush at a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the tw ...

of 1989. On the 21 April 2022, ITV announced that filming had started on the 3 episode drama series ''The Hunt for Raoul Moat''. It's again being produced by World Productions for

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 ...

. It's written by Sampson, stars

Lee Ingleby Lee David Ingleby (born 28 January 1976) is an English actor who first gained attention with his leading role in the BBC Two miniseries ''Nature Boy'' (2000). His other notable roles include Detective Insp. John Bacchus on the BBC's ''Inspector ...

as Detective Chief Superintendent Neil Adamson, and

Matt Stokoe Matthew Joseph Stokoe (born 13 January 1989) is a British actor. He is best known for his roles as Alex in the Channel 4 series '' Misfits'', crime boss Luke Aikens in the thriller ''Bodyguard A bodyguard (or close protection officer/ope ...

as Raoul Moat.

Novels

*''Awaydays'' (1998) *''Powder'' (1999) *''Leisure'' (2000) *''Outlaws'' (2001) *''Clubland'' (2002) *''Freshers'' (2003) *''Stars are Stars'' (2006) *''Extra Time'' (2012) *'' The Killing Pool'' (2013) *'' The House on the Hill'' (2014)

Notes

External links

Author page
*
2001 interview
''The Guardian''
Article by Sampson on adaptation of ''Awaydays''
''The Observer'', November 2008
"Endless Summer"
Article by Sampson on A Short Film About Chilling in Ibiza in

, Issue 1, p. 53
'Kevin Sampson' entry in ''British Crime Writing: an encyclopedia'', edited by Barry Forshaw
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sampson, Kevin 20th-century British novelists 21st-century British novelists 21st-century British screenwriters British male television writers English screenwriters Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people)