A L Kennedy
(born 1965 - ) - Dundee
In 1993, A L Kennedy featured on a Granta list of Best Young British Novelists (along with such luminaries as Kazuo Ishiguro, Iain Banks, Hanif Kureishi, Ben Okri, and Alan Hollinghurst, to name but a few) and did not subsequently disappoint: her work has been consistently original, exciting and groundbreaking.
Born Alison Louise Kennedy in Dundee in 1965, she attended school in Dundee before taking a degree in Theatre Studies and Drama at Warwick University. After a series of jobs, she began her writing career with the short story collection, Night Geometry and the Garscadden Trains, published by Polygon in 1991. That was followed up by a succession of highly-acclaimed novels and short story collections. Kennedy has recently been seen on the stage with a stand-up act: a brave move, as she is a writer who does not court the limelight willingly.
Her latest novel is the Costa-award-winning Day, was published in April 2007.
Key Titles
- Day
Alfred Day wanted his war. In its turmoil he found his proper purpose as the tail-gunner in a Lancaster bomber; he found the wild, dark fellowship of his crew, and - most extraordinary of all - he found Joyce, a woman to love. But that's all gone now - the war took it away. Maybe it took him, too. - Night Geometry And The Garscadden Trains
The heroes and heroines of this, A.L. Kennedy's first collection of stories, are small people. Often alone and sometimes lonely, her characters ponder the mysteries of sex and death - and the ability of public transport to affect our lives. - Paradise
From the north-east of Scotland to Dublin, from London to Montreal, to Budapest and onwards, Hannah Luckraft travels beyond her limits, beyond herself, in search of the ultimate altered state: the one where she can be happy - her paradise. - So I Am Glad
From the author of Now That You're Back, this is the story of a professional enunciator and announcer who thinks that behind the doors of the recording studio she is safe from the inconvenience of love and hate. But reality eventually breaks in.
Bibliography
- Night Geometry and the Garscadden Trains - 1991
- Looking for the Possible Dance - 1993
- Now that you’re Back - 1994
- So I Am Glad - 1995
- Original Bliss - 1997
- The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp - 1997
- Everything You Need - 1999
- On Bullfighting - 1999
- Indelible Acts - 2002
- Paradise - 2004
- Day - 2007
- A.L. Kennedy
Kaye Mitchell provides students with a comprehensive introduction to Kennedy's work, placing her fiction and non-fiction in a clear historical and theoretical context.