Adam Thirlwell

File:Adam Thirlwell, 2023 Ausschnitt.jpg

Adam Thirlwell {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRSL}} (born 22 August 1978) is a British novelist. His work has been translated into thirty languages. He has twice been named as one of Granta{{'}}s Best of Young British Novelists. In 2015 he received the E.M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.{{Cite web |url=http://www.artsandletters.org/press_releases/2015literature.php |title=American Academy of Arts and Letters - Literature Awards Press Release |access-date=24 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315091602/http://www.artsandletters.org/press_releases/2015literature.php |archive-date=15 March 2015 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }} He is an advisory editor of The Paris Review.

Life

Thirlwell was educated at the independent Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, Elstree. He read English at New College, Oxford, where he got the top first.

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He was a Prize Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford between 2000 and 2007, and worked as assistant editor at the literary magazine Areté. He now lives in London. In 2011 he was the S Fischer Guest Professor of Comparative Literature at the Freie Universität Berlin.{{cite web

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|archivedate=6 August 2011

}} In 2015 he was announced as an Honorary Fellow of the Metaphysical Club at the Domus Academy in Milan.{{Cite web |url=http://www.domusacademy.com/en/metaphysical-club/ |title=Metaphysical Club | Domus Academy |access-date=24 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150328013230/http://www.domusacademy.com/en/metaphysical-club/ |archive-date=28 March 2015 |url-status=dead }}

Work

Thirlwell is the author of four novels: Politics (2003),{{Cite web|url=http://www.neelmukherjee.com/articles/politics-by-adam-thirlwell/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120903161954/http://www.neelmukherjee.com/articles/politics-by-adam-thirlwell/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=3 September 2012|title = Politics by Adam Thirlwell | Neel Mukherjee}} The Escape (2009){{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/aug/08/the-escape-adam-thirlwell-review | work=The Guardian | first=Sarah | last=Churchwell | title=The Escape by Adam Thirlwell | date=8 August 2009}} described by Milan Kundera as "a novel where the humour is melancholic, the melancholy mischievous, and the talent startling",{{Cite web|url=http://www.vintage-books.co.uk/books/0099539837/adam-thirlwell/the-escape/|title = VINTAGE | World class writing. Beautiful design. Ideas that matter}} Lurid & Cute (2015).{{Cite news|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/8f9009b6-9a77-11e4-86c2-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3VI5o7lUG|title=Become an FT subscriber to read | Financial Times|newspaper=Financial Times|date=16 January 2015}} and The Future Future (2023).{{Cite news |last=O’Connell |first=Mark |date=2023-08-03 |title=The Future Future by Adam Thirlwell review – the historical novel, subverted |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/aug/03/the-future-future-by-adam-thirlwell-review-the-historical-novel-subverted |access-date=2023-10-18 |issn=0261-3077}}

He is also the author of a project on the novel and translation, which includes a book first published in 2007,{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/books/18eder.html | work=The New York Times | first=Richard | last=Eder | title=A Portrait of the Critic as a Delirious Young Man | date=18 June 2008}} which was chosen as a book of the year by Tom Stoppard in The Guardian and A. S. Byatt in the Times Literary Supplement; and, as guest editor, Multiples, an anthology of multiple translations for McSweeney's Quarterly.{{Cite web|url=https://store.mcsweeneys.net/products/mcsweeneys-issue-42|title=McSweeney's Issue 42}} In 2019 he created Studio Créole, a group show with novelists and interpreters, co-curated with Hans Ulrich Obrist, which premiered at Manchester International Festival in July.{{Cite web|url=https://frieze.com/article/how-do-we-achieve-global-conversation-without-entering-pre-babel-world|title=How do We Achieve a Global Conversation Without Entering a Pre-Babel World? | Frieze|date=22 July 2019}}

An experimental book with unfolding pages called Kapow!, designed by Studio Frith, was published by Visual Editions in 2012.{{cite web |url=http://www.visual-editions.com/our-books/kapow |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120409133108/http://www.visual-editions.com/our-books/kapow |archive-date=9 April 2012 |title=Visual Editions : Kapow!}} It was nominated for the Design Museum's 2013 Designs of the Year awards{{Cite web|url=http://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/2013/designs-of-the-year-2013|title = Beazley Designs of the Year Overview}} and has been included in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.{{cite web |url=http://www.visual-editions.com/articles/museum-moment |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130306002955/http://www.visual-editions.com/articles/museum-moment |archive-date=6 March 2013 |title=Visual Editions : Museum Moment}} A book with the artist Philippe Parreno, Conversation, was published by Serralves Museum in 2017.{{Cite web|url=http://www.e-flux.com/announcements/91641/philippe-parrenoa-time-coloured-space/|title = Philippe Parreno: A Time Coloured Space}}

Thirlwell wrote a short film, Everyday Performance Artists, for Channel 4's Random Acts, directed by Polly Stenham and starring the voice of Shia LaBeouf, with Gemma Chan, James Norton, and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, in 2016.{{Cite web|url=https://www.channel4.com/press/news/talent-line-announced-new-series-random-acts|title = Talent line-up announced for new series of Random Acts | Channel 4}} In 2018, he wrote and directed Utopia, starring Lily Cole, Lily McMenamy and Babirye Bukilwa.{{Cite web|url=https://tankmagazine.com/tank/2018/12/utopia/|title = Tank Magazine}}

His writing is published in The New York Times, Le Monde, and La Repubblica, as well as the New York Review of Books, The New Republic, and The Believer.{{cite web |url=http://www.adamthirlwell.com/en/small-productions |title=Adam Thirlwell : Small Productions |accessdate=2012-05-10 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121119112530/http://www.adamthirlwell.com/en/small-productions |archivedate=19 November 2012 |df=dmy-all }} He has written columns for The Guardian and Esquire. In May 2015, he was named London editor of the Paris Review.Stein, Lorin, [http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/05/20/new-on-the-masthead-susannah-hunnewell-and-adam-thirlwell/ "New on the Masthead: Susannah Hunnewell and Adam Thirlwell]", Paris Review, 20 May 2015.

In June 2018 Thirlwell was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in its "40 Under 40" initiative.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jun/28/royal-society-of-literature-40-under-40-fellows|title=Royal Society of Literature admits 40 new fellows to address historical biases|last=Flood|first=Alison|date=28 June 2018|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-07-03}}

Awards

2003: Granta "Best of Young British Novelists"
2003: Betty Trask Award, winner, Politicshttp://www.societyofauthors.org/betty-trask-past-winners {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722223137/http://www.societyofauthors.org/betty-trask-past-winners |date=22 July 2011 }},
2005: Lire "50 écrivains pour demain"
2008: Somerset Maugham Award, winner, Miss Herbert
2009: Encore Award, shortlist, The Escape{{Cite web |url=http://www.encoreaward.com/Author.aspx?item=71 |title=Encore |access-date=15 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111224091006/http://www.encoreaward.com/Author.aspx?item=71 |archive-date=24 December 2011 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}
2013: Granta "Best of Young British Novelists"
2015: E.M. Forster Award, winner
2024: Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, shortlist, The Future Future{{Cite web |date=2024-06-11 |title=Orwell Prizes 2024 shortlists announced |url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2024/06/11/253173/orwell-prizes-2024-shortlists-announced/ |access-date=2024-06-24 |publisher=Books+Publishing}}

Bibliography

=Novels=

Politics (2003)
The Escape (2009)
Lurid & Cute (2015)
The Future Future (2023){{Cite web |url=https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/454040/the-future-future-by-thirlwell-adam/9781787334403 |title=Penguin – The Future Future |access-date=3 August 2023 }}

=Essays=

Miss Herbert (US: The Delighted States) (2007)

=Articles=

{{cite journal |last=Thirlwell |first=Adam |date= October 2008|title=Amerikas |journal=The Believer |volume=6 |issue=8 |pages=3–17}}

=As editor=

Multiples: 12 Stories in 18 Languages by 61 Authors, edited by Adam Thirlwell

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20120409063957/http://www.granta.com/New-Writing/The-Granta-blog-5 "Lists, lists, lists..."], article for Granta on literary "Best of" lists.