Mike Gayle (born October 1970) is an English journalist and novelist.

Biography

Gayle was born in

Quinton, Birmingham Quinton is a suburb and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, ward of Birmingham, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England, west of the city centre. Formerly part of Halesowen parish, Quinton became part ...

, to parents from

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, and is the younger brother of broadcaster Phil Gayle. He attended Lordswood Boys' School where he was Head Boy. He studied Sociology and Journalism at university. Gayle edited a music

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleas ...

and joined a Birmingham listings magazine before moving to London and beginning a postgraduate diploma in journalism. Before having his first novel published, he was a features editor and later an

agony aunt An advice column is a column in a question and answer format. Typically, a (usually anonymous) reader writes to the media outlet with a problem in the form of a question, and the media outlet provides an answer or response. The responses are wr ...

for ''

Just Seventeen ''Just Seventeen'', often referred to as ''J-17'', was a fortnightly magazine aimed at teenage girls, published by Emap from October 1983 to April 2004. A special preview edition was given away free with sister magazine ''Smash Hits'' on 13 Oct ...

'' and ''

Bliss BLISS is a system programming language developed at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) by W. A. Wulf, D. B. Russell, and A. N. Habermann around 1970. It was perhaps the best known system language until C debuted a few years later. Since then, C ...

''. As a freelance journalist he has written for the ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...

'', '' FHM'', ''

More! ''More!'' was a fortnightly, later weekly, women's fashion magazine and associated website published on Tuesdays in the United Kingdom by Bauer London Lifestyle. It included celebrity news, high street fashion, and sex tips. The magazine was pu ...

'', ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

'' and ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

''. Gayle is a

chick-lit "Chick lit" is a term used to describe a type of popular fiction targeted at women. Widely used in the 1990s and 2000s, the term has fallen out of fashion with publishers, with numerous writers and critics rejecting it as inherently sexist. Nove ...

author, although he has expressed a dislike for the term. Alongside Tony Parsons and

Tim Lott Tim Lott (born 23 January 1956) is a British author. He worked as a music journalist and ran a magazine publishing business, launching ''Flexipop'' magazine in 1980 with ex-''Record Mirror'' journalist Barry Cain. Early life and education In 1 ...

, he has also been associated with a "new wave of fictions about inadequate young British masculinities". Gayle is friends with

Danny Wallace Daniel, Dan or Danny Wallace may refer to: * Daniel Wallace (politician) (1801–1859), U.S. Congressman from South Carolina * Daniel B. Wallace (born 1952), professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary * Daniel Wallace (aut ...

, who has dubbed Mike his Minister of Home Affairs in the Kingdom of Lovely. He lives in

Harborne Harborne is an affluent area sited south-west of Birmingham, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is a Birmingham City Council ward (politics), ward in the Government of Birmingham, England#Districts, formal district and ...

with his daughters and his wife Claire.

Novels

*'' My Legendary Girlfriend''. London: Flame, 1998. *''Mr. Commitment''. London: Flame, 1999. *'' Turning Thirty''. London: Flame, 2000. *''Dinner for Two''. London: Flame, 2002. *''His 'n' Hers'', 2004. *''Brand New Friend'', 2005. *''Wish You Were Here'', 2007. *''The Life & Soul of the Party'', 2008. *''The To Do List'', 2009. *''The Importance of Being a Bachelor'', 2010. *''The Stag and Hen Weekend'', 2012. *''Turning Forty'', 2013. *''Seeing Other People'', 2014. *''The Hope Family Calendar'', 2016. *''The Man I Think I Know'', 2018. *''Half a world away'', 2019. *''All The Lonely People'', 2020. *''Hope Street'', 2025

References

External links

Official websiteMySpace page
1970 births Living people Writers from Birmingham, West Midlands Journalists from Birmingham, West Midlands Black British writers British advice columnists English male journalists 21st-century English novelists English people of Jamaican descent English male novelists 21st-century English male writers People educated at Lordswood Boys' School {{UK-novelist-stub