Nicola Barker (born 30 March 1966) is an English novelist and short story writer.

Early life and education

Barker was born in

Ely, Cambridgeshire Ely ( ) is a cathedral city and civil parish in the East Cambridgeshire district, in Cambridgeshire, England, northeast of Cambridge, southeast of Peterborough and from London. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the built-up a ...

, England on 30 March 1966. While still young, her parents left England and settled in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Career

Barker typically writes about damaged or eccentric people in mundane situations, and has a fondness for bleak, isolated settings. ''Wide Open'' and ''Behindlings'' are set respectively on the

Isle of Sheppey The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England, neighbouring the Thames Estuary, centred from central London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the districts of England, local government district of Borough ...

and

Canvey Island Canvey Island is a town, civil parish and reclaimed island in the Thames Estuary, near Southend-on-Sea, in the Castle Point district, in the county of Essex, England. It has an area of and a population of 38,170.Office for National Statistics. ...

. Together with ''Darkmans'' (2007), they form an informal trilogy based around the

Thames Gateway Thames Gateway is a term applied to an area around the Thames Estuary in the context of discourse around regeneration and further urbanisation. The term was first coined by the UK government and applies to an area of land stretching east from ...

. ''Darkmans'' won the 2008

Hawthornden Prize The Hawthornden Prize is a British literary award given annually to a British, Irish or British-based author for a work of "imaginative literature" – including poetry, novels, history, biography and creative non-fiction – published in the pre ...

Patrick Ness Patrick Ness Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, FRSL (born 17 October 1971) is an American-British author, journalist, lecturer, and screenwriter. Born in the United States, Ness moved to London and holds dual citizenship. He is best k ...

's review in ''

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 ...

'' described the book as "phenomenally good" despite it being an "838-page epic with little describable plot, taking place over just a few days and set in... Ashford." Her 2004 novel, ''Clear'', is set in London during

David Blaine David Blaine (born David Blaine White; April 4, 1973) is an American magician, mentalist, and Endurance art, endurance performer. Born in New York City, Blaine became interested in magic at a very young age. He gained prominence in 1997, when h ...

's ''Above the Below'' 44-day fast in London in 2003.

Awards and honours

*1993: PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award co-winner for ''Love Your Enemies'' *1993: David Higham Prize for Fiction winner for ''Love Your Enemies'' *1996:

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 ...

winner for ''Heading Inland'' *2000:

International Dublin Literary Award The International Dublin Literary Award (), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. It promotes excellence in world literature and is solely ...

winner for ''Wide Open'' *2004:

Man Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

longlist for ''Clear: A Transparent Novel'' *2007:

shortlist for ''Darkmans'' *2012:

longlist for ''The Yips'' *2017:

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 ...

winner for ''H(a)ppy''

Publications

Novels

* ''Reversed Forecast'' (1994) * ''Small Holdings'' (1995) * '' Wide Open'' (1998) * ''Five Miles from Outer Hope'' (2000) * ''Behindlings'' (2002) * ''Clear: A Transparent Novel'' (2004) * '' Darkmans'' (2007) * ''Burley Cross Postbox Theft'' (2010)"The Hot List 2010"
''The Observer'', 27 December 2009. * ''The Yips'' (2012) * ''In the Approaches'' (2014) * ''The Cauliflower'' (2016) * ''H(a)ppy'' (2017) * ''I Am Sovereign'' (2019) * ''TonyInterrupter'' (2025) * ''Elmwood'' (tbc)

Collections of stories

* ''Love Your Enemies'' (1993) * ''Heading Inland'' (1996) * ''The Three Button Trick: Selected Stories'' (2001)

Short stories

* ''The Free Hand'' (1998) * ''By Force of Will, Alone'' (2009)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Nicola 1966 births Living people 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English women writers 21st-century English novelists 21st-century English women writers English women novelists Goldsmiths Prize winners John Llewellyn Rhys Prize winners Magic realism writers People from Ely, Cambridgeshire