Sid Smith (born ) is an English

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 ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

Life and career

Smith was born in Preston,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

. For seven years he worked in labouring jobs, including dustman, gardener,

gravedigger A gravedigger is a cemetery worker who is responsible for digging a grave prior to a funeral service. Gravediggers have historically often been members of the church, though in modern secular cemeteries, they may be temporary or full-time staf ...

and construction worker. Since then he has hitch-hiked 9,000 miles around the US, lived in Italy and

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, and acquired a pilot's licence for paragliders. Smith came late to literary prominence. He had been a journalist for 17 years, including two years as a

sub-editor Copy editing (also known as copyediting and manuscript editing) is the process of revising written material (" copy") to improve quality and readability, as well as ensuring that a text is free of errors in grammar, style, and accuracy. ''The Ch ...

on ''

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 ...

'', and was already in his 50s when his debut novel ''Something Like A House'' was published in 2001. The tale of a British deserter in China at the time of the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

, '' Something Like a House'' won critical praise and went on to win both the

James Tait Black Memorial Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Un ...

and the Whitbread First Novel Award. What was remarkable about the book was its meticulous evocation of time and place, especially since Smith had never been to China and had written the book entirely from his own research, conducted among other places in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

. Smith says that his only previous contact with China had been a "one-hour stopover at

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

airport". He claims that "the only ticket you need is a library ticket". However, his novels portray the gritty details of manual labour, about which he may claim to be knowledgeable. Smith's second novel, ''A House by the River'' (2003), was another adventure story set in China. His third, ''China Dreams'' (2007), has the theme of a Londoner who is obsessed with China but has never been there. Smith is a

on ''

''. His website at http://www.sidsmith.co.uk/index.htm is constantly updated with short stories, journalism and poetry.

Private life

Smith was married with full Shinto

rite Rite may refer to: Religion * Ritual, an established ceremonious act * Rite (Christianity), sacred rituals in the Christian religion * Ritual family, Christian liturgical traditions; often also called ''liturgical rites'' * Catholic particular ch ...

s to Chieko Nomura at a shrine in Southern Japan. He lives in

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

in north London.

Notable works

* '' Something Like a House'', Picador 2001 * ''A House by the River'', Picador 2003 * ''China Dreams'', Pan Macmillan 2007 Nisbet Chronicles * ''Nisbet and Trafalgar,'' Kindle Edition * ''Nisbet and Nelson's Eye'' (work in progress)

Other writings

Smith is also a poet and short story writer on a variety of topics.

Awards

Whitbread First Novel Award 2001 - ''Something Like a House''

2001 - ''Something Like a House''

Encore Award The £15,000 Encore Award for the best second novel was first awarded in 1990. It is sponsored by Lucy Astor, presented by the Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King Ge ...

Nominee 2004 - ''A House by the River''

References

External links

Sid Smith's website: the complete free text of 'China Dreams', unpublished poetry and fiction, extracts from the novels

Sid Smith – profile at Pan MacMillan

Interview on BBC Radio: On writing novels about a place you haven’t been (from about 8mins in)

BBC Radio interview: Why writing novels is boring (from 16mins 40sec in)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Sid 1949 births Living people British male journalists 21st-century English novelists James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients Writers from Preston, Lancashire English male novelists 21st-century English male writers