Lynda Clark (born 29 October 1981) is an author and creator of

interactive fiction Interactive fiction (IF) is software simulating environments in which players use text Command (computing), commands to control Player character, characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narrati ...

. Her short story, “Ghillie’s Mum” won the

Commonwealth Short Story Prize The Commonwealth Short Story Prize is awarded annually for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2,000 to 5,000 words). The prize is open to citizens of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations aged 18 and over. The Commonwealth Short ...

for Europe and Canada in 2018, and was shortlisted for the

BBC National Short Story Award The BBC National Short Story Award (known as the National Short Story Award in 2006 and 2007) has been described as "one of the most prestigious wardsfor a single short story" and the richest prize in the world for a single short story. It is an ...

in 2019. Her debut novel, ''Beyond Kidding,'' was published by Fairlight Books in October 2019.

Biography

Born in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

, Clark completed a BA in English Literature, followed by an MA and a PhD in Creative Writing at

Nottingham Trent University Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is a public research university located in Nottingham, England. Its origins date back to 1843 with the establishment of the Nottingham School of Design, Nottingham Government School of Design, which still opera ...

. She has worked as a bookseller at

Waterstones Waterstones Booksellers Limited, trading as Waterstones (formerly Waterstone's), is a British bookselling, book retailer based in London, England, owned by the American investment group Elliott Investment Management. It operates 311 shops, ma ...

and in the video game industry as a writer and producer. Currently she is based in

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

where she works as a Research and Development Fellow in Narrative and Play at InGAME: Innovation for Games and Media Enterprise,

University of Dundee The University of Dundee is a public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a university college in 1881 with a donation from the prominent Baxter family of textile manufacturers. The institution was, for most of its ...

. Clark has the rare neurological disorder,

Spasmodic Dysphonia Spasmodic dysphonia, also known as laryngeal dystonia, is a disorder in which the muscles that generate a person's voice go into periods of spasm. This results in breaks or interruptions in the voice, often every few sentences, which can make a p ...

, an incurable condition which affects speech.

Awards and shortlistings

* 2017 The Cambridge Short Story Prize (shortlist) for ''Grandma’s Feast Day'' * 2018 Regional winner, Commonwealth Short Story Prize for Europe and Canada for ''Ghillie's Mum'' * 2019 BBC National Short Story Award (shortlist) for ''Ghillie's Mum'' * 2019 New Media Writing Prize (shortlist) for ''The Memory Archivist'' * 2019 Winner, BL Labs Artistic Award for ''The Memory Archivist'' * 2020

Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society The Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) is a British organisation that works to ensure that writers are fairly compensated for any of their works that are copied, broadcast or recorded. It has operated in the United Kingdom since 197 ...

(ALCS) Tom-Gallon Trust Award (shortlist) for ''Ghillie's Mum''

Works

Novels

* ''Beyond Kidding'', 2019,

Short stories

* ''Dreaming in Quantum and Other Stories'', 2021,

Interactive fiction

* ''The Memory Archivist'', 2019

Non-fiction

* ''How I Ended the Wrestling Match Between My Brain and My Throat'', 2013, ''The Guardian'' * ''Why Final Fantasy 15’s beautiful food and ridiculous culinary preparation is the best thing in the game'', 2017, ''Games Radar & Official XBox Magazine'' * ''It's a Kind of Magic: The Tricks of Interactive Fiction'', ''The Birmingham Journal of Literature and Language'', VIII (2017), 55-65 * ''Before Westworld was Mudfog – Charles Dickens’ surprisingly modern dystopia'', 2018, ''The Conversation & Smithsonian Magazine''

References

External links

Lynda Clark's creator page on Itch.io
* Reviews :* Miki Lentin (14 September 2020)
"REVIEW OF LYNDA CLARK’S ‘BEYOND KIDDING ’ BY MIKI LENTIN"
''The Mechanics’ Institute Review (MIR).'' :*Miki Lentin (6 May 2021).
REVIEW: DREAMING IN QUANTUM BY LYNDA CLARK
. ''The Mechanics’ Institute Review (MIR).'' :*Stuart Kelly (1 June 2021).
Book reviews: Dreaming in Quantum and Other Stories by Lynda Clark , Man Hating Psycho by Iphgenia Baal
. ''The Scotsman''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Lynda 1981 births Living people Alumni of Nottingham Trent University 21st-century English women writers British electronic literature writers 21st-century English novelists Women in the video game industry