Biography
Novelist Graham Swift was born in London in 1949. He was
educated at Dulwich College, Queens' College, Cambridge, and York University. He was nominated as one of the 20 'Best of Young British Novelists' in the Book Marketing Council's promotion in 1983.
He is the author of seven novels. The first, The Sweet Shop Owner (1980), is narrated by disillusioned shopkeeper Willy Chapman, and unfolds over the course of a single day in June. The narrator of his second novel, Shuttlecock (1981), winner of the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, becomes obsessed with his father's experiences during the Second World War.
Waterland, his acclaimed third novel, was published in 1983. Narrated by history teacher Tom Crick, it describes his youth spent in the Norfolk fens during the Second World War. These personal memories are woven into a greater history of the area, slowly revealing the seeds of a family legacy that threatens his marriage. The book won the Guardian Fiction Prize and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. It was followed by Out of this World (1988), the story of a photojournalist and his estranged daughter, and Ever After (1992), in which a university professor makes a traumatic discovery about his career.
Swift's sixth novel, Last Orders (1996), which won the Booker Prize for Fiction and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for fiction), recounts a journey begun in a pub in London's East End by four friends intent on fulfilling a promise to scatter the ashes of their dead drinking-partner in the sea. A film adaptation of the novel starring Michael Caine and Bob Hoskins was first screened in 2001. His novel, The Light of Day (2003), is the story of a murder, a love affair and a disgraced former policeman turned private detective. His latest work, Tomorrow (2007), explores complex themes of parenthood, coupledom and identity via the personal thoughts and memories of the protagonist, Paula, as she lies awake one night in bed.
Graham Swift is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He lives in London
Bibliography
The Sweet Shop Owner Allen Lane, 1980
Shuttlecock Allen Lane, 1981
Learning to Swim and Other Stories London Magazine Editions, 1982
Waterland Heinemann, 1983
The Magic Wheel: An Anthology of Fishing in Literature (co-editor with David Profumo) Picador / Heinemann, 1985
Out of this World Viking, 1988
Ever After Picador, 1992
Last Orders Picador, 1996
The Light of Day Hamish Hamilton, 2003
Tomorrow Picador, 2007
Prizes and awards
1981 Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize Shuttlecock
1983 Booker Prize for Fiction (shortlist) Waterland
1983 Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize Waterland
1983 Guardian Fiction Prize Waterland
1983 Premio Grinzane Cavour (Italy) Waterland
1983 Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize Waterland
1992 Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger (France) Ever After
1996 Booker Prize for Fiction Last Orders
1996 James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for fiction) (joint winner) Last Orders