Naomi Alderman

Alderman was born in London, the daughter of Geoffrey Alderman, a specialist in Anglo-Jewish historyFox, Sue, [https://web.archive.org/web/20070213030953/http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article1344389.ece "Relative Values: Geoffrey Alderman and his daughter, Naomi"], The Sunday Times, 11 February 2007. who has described himself as an unconventional Orthodox Jew.{{cite news| url=http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article1344389.ece | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070213030953/http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article1344389.ece | url-status=dead | archive-date=13 February 2007 | location=London | work=The Times | title=Relative Values Geoffrey Alderman and his daughter Naomi | date=11 February 2007}} Alderman was educated at South Hampstead High School and Lincoln College, Oxford, where she read Philosophy, Politics and Economics. After she left Oxford, she worked in children's publishing and then for a law firm, editing their publications. She went on to study creative writing at the University of East Anglia before becoming a novelist. In 2007, The Sunday Times named her their Young Writer of the Year. In 2007, she was named as one of the 25 Writers of the Future by Waterstones.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6665401.stm "UK Authors of the Future Unveiled"], bbc.co.uk. Accessed 26 December 2022.

In 2012, Alderman was appointed professor of creative writing at Bath Spa University, England. In 2013, she was included in the Granta once-a-decade list of 20 best young writers.{{cite web|url=http://www.granta.com/Archive/123|title=Archive Access – Granta Magazine|access-date=20 October 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/naomi-alderman|title=Naomi Alderman – Literature|website=literature.britishcouncil.org}} She writes a monthly technology column for The Guardian.

Alderman became an advocate for feminism in her teenage years and has since supported women's rights, which has influenced her works. She stated in a 2018 New York Times interview, "When I was a teenager in the 1990s, it was a common thing among young women to say that feminism's battles are won. Now I think it's very horrifically obvious that that is not the case." She wrote The Power to address points made by the fourth-wave feminism movement and cites the Me Too movement as an inspiration and a source of similar dialogue.{{cite news|last1=La Ferla|first1=R|title=Naomi Alderman on the World That Yielded The Power|work=The New York Times|date=29 January 2018|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/style/the-power-naomi-alderman.html|access-date=3 March 2018}}

Alderman was the lead writer for Perplex City, an alternative reality game, at the company Mind Candy.{{cite web|url=http://naomialderman.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/06/presume_not_tha.html|title=Presume not that I am the thing I was|website=leaving the house|date=1 June 2007|access-date=20 October 2017}} She went on to become lead writer on other apps including Zombies, Run! and The Walk.{{cite web|url=https://thewalkgame.com/presskit/presskit.html.|title=The Walk press kit|website=The Walk by Six to Start and Naomi Alderman|access-date=17 June 2020}} In 2018 The Walk was turned into a podcast and released through Panoply Media.

Alderman's literary debut came in 2006 with Disobedience, a well-received, if somewhat controversial,{{cite web|url=http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/interview-naomi-alderman-author-1-475220|title=Interview: Naomi Alderman, author|work=The Scotsman|date=11 April 2010}} novel about a North London rabbi's bisexual{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/mar/04/featuresreviews.guardianreview20|title=This is Hendon: Disobedience by Naomi Alderman gives Dina Rabinovitch the small-town blues|work=The Guardian|date=4 March 2006|first=Dina|last=Rabinovitch|author-link=Dina Rabinovitch}}{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3653503/A-prize-winning-portrait-of-a-very-unorthodox-jew.html|title=A prize-winning portrait of a very unorthodox jew|work=The Telegraph|date=2 July 2006|first=Lucy|last=Beresford|author-link=Lucy Beresford}} daughter living in New York, which won Alderman the 2006 Orange Award for New Writers,[https://www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/about/new-writers "New Writers"], Women's Prize for Fiction. the 2007 Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, and a feature as one of the Waterstones 25 Writers for the Future.{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/naomi-alderman-the-power-book-disobedience-rachel-weisz-rachel-mcadams-a7381041.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/naomi-alderman-the-power-book-disobedience-rachel-weisz-rachel-mcadams-a7381041.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Naomi Alderman interview: 'The book's not mine anymore, the rights are sold'|work=The Independent|date=26 October 2016|first=Sarah|last=Jilani}} It led her to reject her life as a practising Jew. "I went into the novel religious and by the end I wasn't. I wrote myself out of it," she told Claire Armitstead of The Guardian in 2016.{{cite news|last=Armitstead|first=Claire|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/oct/28/naomi-alderman-interview-the-power|title=Naomi Alderman: 'I went into the novel religious and by the end I wasn't. I wrote myself out of it'|work=The Guardian|date=28 October 2016|access-date=2 December 2017}} Her second novel, The Lessons, was published in 2010.

Her third novel, The Liars' Gospel (Viking), with Jesus portrayed as the Jewish preacher Yehoshuah, was published in paperback in 2012. Reviewing the book, Shoshi Ish-Horowicz in the Jewish Renaissance magazine described it as "an entertaining, engaging read" but found the story it told "uncomfortable and problematic. Your enjoyment of the novel will depend on how you respond to the premise that Jesus was, potentially, an 'inconsequential preacher'".{{cite journal | title=Books: The Liars' Gospel | author=Ish-Horowicz, Shoshi| journal=Jewish Renaissance |date=October 2012 | volume=12 | issue=1 | page=52}} Set in and around Jerusalem between Pompey's Siege of Jerusalem (63 BC) and Titus' Siege of Jerusalem (70), it is narrated in four main sections from the perspective of four key figures: Mary, Judas Iscariot, Caiaphas and Barabbas.{{cite news|last=Holland|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Holland (author)|title=The Liars' Gospel by Naomi Alderman – review|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/sep/06/liars-gospel-naomi-alderman-review|access-date=27 May 2014|newspaper=The Guardian|date=6 September 2012}} All three novels have been serialised on BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkdUimnK-wk|title=Naomi Alderman Mix 03 Writing Digital Keynote|first=Mark|last=Leake|date=6 August 2015|access-date=20 October 2017|via=YouTube}}

She wrote the narrative for The Winter House, an online interactive linear short story visualised by Jey Biddulph. The project was commissioned by BookTrust as part of the Story campaign, supported by Arts Council England.{{cite web|url=http://www.thewinterhouse.co.uk/|title=The Winter House|website=thewinterhouse.co.uk|access-date=20 October 2017}} Her Doctor Who novel Borrowed Time was published in June 2011.Johnston, Rich, [http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/05/05/swapping-reputation-for-time-with-the-doctor/ "Swapping Reputation for Time with the Doctor"], Bleeding Cool, 5 May 2011.

In 2012, Alderman was selected as a protégé by Margaret Atwood as part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, an international philanthropic programme that pairs masters in their disciplines with emerging talents for a year of one-to-one creative exchange.{{cite web|url=http://www.rolexmentorprotege.com/pairing/2012-2013/margaret_atwood_and_naomi_alderman|title=Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative|website=Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative: A year of mentoring|access-date=20 October 2017}} Atwood and Alderman co-wrote “The Happy Zombie Sunrise Home” and self-published the work online on Wattpad in 2012.{{Cite web|last=Schinsky|first=Rebecca Joine|date=October 31, 2012|title=The Happy Zombie Sunrise Home — An Excerpt of Margaret Atwood's Exclusive Wattpad Story|url=https://bookriot.com/the-happy-zombie-sunrise-home-an-excerpt-of-margaret-atwoods-exclusive-wattpad-story/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210406232417/https://bookriot.com/the-happy-zombie-sunrise-home-an-excerpt-of-margaret-atwoods-exclusive-wattpad-story/|archive-date=April 6, 2021|access-date=April 6, 2021|website=Book Riot}}

Alderman's fourth novel, The Power, was published in 2016.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/style/the-power-naomi-alderman.html|title=Naomi Alderman on the World That Yielded 'The Power'|first=Ruth |last=La Ferla|date=28 April 2018|work=The New York Times}} The Power is dedicated to and influenced by Atwood. The Power won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2017. Alderman has confirmed that she has sold the rights of The Power to Sister Pictures, the same company who produced Broadchurch, after receiving eleven offers. The television adaptation was subsequently produced as nine episodes, which premiered on 31 March 2023 and concluded on 12 May 2023.

{{Incomplete list|date=November 2023}}

• {{Cite book |last=Alderman |first=Naomi |title=Disobedience |publisher=Touchstone Books |year=2006 |isbn=9780743291569 |edition=hardcover 1st |publication-place= |pages=227 |language=English |author-mask=2}}
• {{Cite book |last=Alderman |first=Naomi |title=The Lessons |publisher=Viking Books |year=2010 |isbn=9780670916290 |edition=paperback |publication-place= |pages=288 |language=English |author-mask=2}}
• {{Cite book |last=Alderman |first=Naomi |title=Borrowed Time |publisher=BBC Books |year=2011 |isbn=9781849902335 |edition=hardback |publication-place= |pages=255 |language=English |author-mask=2}}
• {{Cite book |last=Alderman |first=Naomi |title=The Liars' Gospel |publisher=Viking Books |year=2012 |isbn=9780670919901 |edition=hardcover 1st |publication-place= |pages=272 |language=English |author-mask=2}}
• {{Cite book |last=Alderman |first=Naomi |title=The Power |publisher=Little, Brown |year=2016 |isbn=9780316547611 |edition=hardcover 2017 |publication-place= |pages=400 |language=English |author-mask=2}}
• {{Cite book |last=Alderman |first=Naomi |title=The Future |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=2023 |isbn=9781668025680 |edition=hardcover 2023 |publication-place= |pages=432 |language=English |author-mask=2}}{{Cite news |last=Wang |first=Ian |date=2023-11-07 |title=In 'The Future,' Earth Barrels Toward Fiery Destruction |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/07/books/review/the-future-naomi-alderman.html |access-date=2023-11-19 |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |title=Video 'GMA' Buzz pick: 'The Future' by Naomi Alderman |url=https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/video/gma-buzz-pick-future-naomi-alderman-105001291 |access-date=2023-11-19 |website=ABC News |language=en}}{{Cite news |date=2023-11-03 |title=Review {{!}} 'The Power' author Naomi Alderman finds a new target: Capitalism |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/11/05/naomi-alderman-future-review/ |access-date=2023-11-19 |issn=0190-8286}}{{Cite news |last=Allardice |first=Lisa |date=2023-11-04 |title=Naomi Alderman: 'A writer's job is courage. You've got to be as honest as you can" |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/nov/04/naomi-alderman-a-writers-job-is-courage-youve-got-to-be-as-honest-as-you-can |access-date=2023-11-19 |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite web |date=November 8, 2023 |title='The Future' asks if technology will save humanity or accelerate its end |url=https://www.npr.org/2023/11/08/1211633330/the-future-asks-if-technology-will-save-humanity-or-accelerate-its-end |website=NPR}}{{Cite web |last=Masad |first=Ilana |date=2023-11-07 |title=In 'The Future,' as in the present, it's billionaires vs. cult leaders vs. influencers |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2023-11-07/in-the-future-its-billionaires-vs-cult-leaders-vs-survivalist-influencers-and-more |access-date=2023-11-19 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• [http://naomialderman.typepad.com/ Personal blog]
• [https://www.theguardian.com/profile/naomialderman Alderman] at The Guardian – indexes her contributions
• [http://www.davidhigham.co.uk/authors-dh/naomi-alderman/ Alderman at agent David Higham]
• [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/feb/20/religion.books "Naomi Alderman's first novel ..."], The Guardian, 20 February 2006, based on an interview
• [http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/features/Interview-Naomi-Alderman-author.6218093.jp Interview in Scotland on Sunday] (April 2010) at The Scotsman
• [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6665401.stm "UK authors of the future unveiled"] (2007) at BBC News
• {{LCAuth||Naomi Alderman|7|ue}}

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Category:1974 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century English women writers

Category:21st-century English novelists

Category:Academics of Bath Spa University

Category:Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford

Category:Alumni of the University of East Anglia

Category:Jewish English writers

Category:Jewish novelists

Category:People educated at South Hampstead High School