Scarlett Thomas

Thomas is the daughter of Francesca Ashurst,[https://archive.org/details/endofmry00thom/page/401 Acknowledgments for The End of Mr. Y] and attended a variety of schools, including a state junior school in Barking, Hylands School and a boarding school for eighteen months. During her teenage years she was involved in demonstrations against the Poll Tax, nuclear weapons and the first Gulf War. She studied for her A levels at Chelmsford College and achieved a First in a degree in Cultural Studies at the University of East London from 1992 to 1995.[https://web.archive.org/web/20031018183522/http://www.bookgirl.org/neverendinginterview.htm Archived biography and interview from official website]

Her first three novels feature Lily Pascale, an English literature lecturer who solves murder mysteries. Her next three novels - Bright Young Things (2001), Going Out (2002), and PopCo (2004) - took her away from genre fiction, and she used them to "explore what it means to be trapped in a culture where your identity is defined by pop culture."[https://www.bookbrowse.com/biographies/index.cfm/author_number/1945/scarlett-thomas Bookbrowse Biography]

Her next novel, 2006's The End of Mr. Y brought her a new level of success,{{Cite journal|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2015/09/british_novelist_scarlett_thomas_book_the_seed_collectors_is_unavailable.html|title = Sometimes a Gifted Novelist Gets One Big Swing at Success—and Whiffs| journal=Slate |date = 10 September 2015 | last1=Miller | first1=Laura }} and was sold in 22 countries. She followed this 4 years later with Our Tragic Universe, originally to be titled Death of the Author.[http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2009/06/pop-or-postmodern-scarlett-thomas.html When pop goes postmodern: Scarlett Thomas (LA Times)][https://www.amazon.co.uk/Our-Tragic-Universe-Scarlett-Thomas/dp/184767089X/ Amazon UK - Scarlett Thomas 'Our Tragic Universe'] In writing her ninth novel, The Seed Collectors,[http://www.scarlettthomas.co.uk/about About Scarlett Thomas] her research included studying towards an MSc in ethnobotany.

Recently, Thomas started writing children's fiction, publishing Dragon's Green in 2017, the first in the Worldquake series. It was followed by The Chosen Ones in 2018 and Galloglass in 2019.{{Cite book|url=http://www.simonandschuster.com/series/Worldquake|title=Worldquake Series|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=2017|language=en}} She wrote about her experiences of writing children's fiction, including how much she enjoyed the worldbuilding.

Away from writing fiction, she has taught Creative Writing at the University of Kent since 2004, and has previously taught at Dartmouth Community College, South East Essex College and the University of East London.[https://www.kent.ac.uk/english/people/116/thomas-scarlett Scarlett Thomas - School of English] She reviews books for the Literary Review, the Independent on Sunday, and Scotland on Sunday. She has also served as a member of the Edinburgh International Film Festival (2008) jury, along with Director Iain Softley and presided over by actor Danny Huston[http://www.netribution.co.uk/content/view/1511/182/ Edinburgh Winners - Eurostar's Somers Town, Man on a Wire, Herzog's Encounters at End of the World]

Thomas has stated previously was working on a book called 41-0[https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/sep/06/love-match-how-finally-got-to-play-wimbledon Love match: how I finally got to play at Wimbledon] about her year of returning to tennis - she had stopped playing when she was 14 but took it up again in 2013 to see "how high [she] could get in the rankings for [her] age." She placed in the Wimbledon Seniors in 2014. She channelled her athletic ability into running and walking, and tracked it via numerous apps, leading to a realisation she had been acting obsessively about her fitness, which she chronicled in The Guardian in 2015{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/mar/07/fitness-addiction-ill-scarlett-thomas|title=Nowhere to run: did my fitness addiction make me ill?|last=Thomas|first=Scarlett|date=2015-03-07|work=The Guardian|access-date=2017-12-24|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}} and was followed by, in her words, a breakdown.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/mar/24/childrens-fiction-scarlett-thomas-dragons-green|title=Scarlett Thomas: Why I was wrong about children's fiction|last=Thomas|first=Scarlett|date=2017-03-24|work=The Guardian|access-date=2017-12-24|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}

She shares with Ariel, the protagonist in The End of Mr. Y, a wish to know everything:[http://www.thebookseller.com/books/author-profiles/40340-scarlett-thomas-thought-experiments.html Bookseller Interview] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107133602/http://www.thebookseller.com/books/author-profiles/40340-scarlett-thomas-thought-experiments.html |date=2009-01-07 }}

"I'm very much someone who wants to work out the answers. I want to know what's outside the universe, what's at the end of time, and is there a God? But I think fiction's great for that--it's very close to philosophy."

In 2001 Thomas was named by The Independent as one of 20 Best Young Writers.[http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/festival2007/Tales-of-Scarlett-woman.3315474.jp Tales of Scarlett woman (Edinburgh Evening News)] In 2002 she won Best New Writer in the Elle Style Awards, and also featured as an author in New Puritans, a project led by the novelists Matt Thorne and Nicholas Blincoe consisting of both a manifesto and an anthology of short stories.

• Dead Clever (1998)
• In Your Face (1999)
• Seaside (1999)
• Bright Young Things (2001)
• Going Out (2002)
• PopCo (2004)
• The End of Mr. Y (2006)
• Our Tragic Universe (2010)
• The Seed Collectors (2015)
• Oligarchy (2019)
• {{cite book |last=Thomas |first=Scarlett |title=The Sleepwalkers |date=2024-04-09 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-6680-3298-5 |publication-place=New York, NY |oclc=on1424633721}}{{Cite news |last=Berry |first=Flynn |date=2024-04-06 |title=When a Couple’s Paradise Honeymoon Became a Gothic Mystery |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/06/books/the-sleepwalkers-scarlett-thomas.html |access-date=2024-07-13 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news |last=Kent |first=Christobel |date=2024-04-06 |title=The Sleepwalkers by Scarlett Thomas review – fiendishly gripping |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/06/the-sleepwalkers-by-scarlett-thomas-review-fiendishly-gripping |access-date=2024-07-13 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}

• Dragon’s Green (2017)
• The Chosen Ones (2018)
• Galloglass (2019)
• Cosmic Dancers (2020)
• The Great Oak: The Perfect Opportunity to Bring Parents and Their Children Together Any Time of Day (2021)

• "Brother and Sister and Foot" - Curly Tales series, on Radio 4, August 2005
• "Interlude" - Product Magazine, Winter 04-05
• "The Whole Country" - Zembla Magazine, Summer 2004
• "Why My Grandmother Learned to Play the Flute" - Curly Tales series, on Radio 4, November 2003
• "The Old School Museum" - Big Night Out, HarperCollins, 2002
• "Debbie’s Dreams" - The Stealth Corporation magazine, 2002
• "Goldfish" - Butterfly Magazine, Issue 5, 2000
• "Mind Control" - All Hail the New Puritans, 4th Estate, 2000
• "Five Easy Ways with Chilli" - 2008[http://inkognitoh.livejournal.com/125363.html Mulberry Street blog about Five Easy Ways with Chilli] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110818133613/http://inkognitoh.livejournal.com/125363.html |date=2011-08-18 }}

• Monkeys with Typewriters: How to Write Fiction and Unlock the Secret Power of Stories (2012)
• 41-Love: A Memoir (2022)

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.3ammagazine.com/litarchives/2005/jun/interview_scarlett_thomas.html 2005 interview] in 3am magazine
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080412205235/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-end-of-mr-y-by-scarlett-thomas-456977.html Book Review] of The End of Mr. Y in The Independent
• [http://www.dawn.com/weekly/books/archive/070722/books10.htm Book Review] of The End of Mr. Y in the Dawn Newspaper
• [http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/thomass/popco.htm Book Reviews] of PopCo
• [http://www.bookgirl.org/index.php?page=notes_for_new_writers The Author and The Text], a lecture given by Scarlett Thomas at the University of Kent
• [http://www.bookslut.com/features/2007_03_010799.php 2007 Interview] in Bookslut
• [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/may/09/our-tragic-universe-book-review Review of Our Tragic Universe] in The Guardian

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Category:Living people

Category:1972 births

Category:21st-century English novelists

Category:People from Hammersmith

Category:Writers from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham

Category:Alumni of the University of East London

Category:Academics of the University of Kent