Will Ashon

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}

{{Infobox musical artist

|name = Will Ashon

|image =

|image_size =

|caption =

|background = non_performing_personnel

|birth_name =

|birth_date = {{birth year and age|1969}}

|birth_place = Leicester, England

|genre = Hip hop

|occupation = Journalist, record label executive, novelist

|years_active =

|label = Big Dada

|website = [http://bigdada.com Big Dada Recordings]

}}

Will Ashon (born 1969) is an English writer and novelist, former music journalist and founder of the Big Dada imprint of Ninja Tune records.{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/will-ashon-a-thoroughly-modern-novelist-782269.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100226145625/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/will-ashon-a-thoroughly-modern-novelist-782269.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 February 2010|title=Will Ashon: a thoroughly modern novelist|author=Marianne Brace|date=15 February 2008|work=The Independent|accessdate=19 May 2009}}

Ashon was educated at Countesthorpe Community College and Balliol College, Oxford. In the mid-1990s he worked as a music journalist specialising in hip hop for publications including Trace, Muzik and Hip Hop Connection.{{cite web|url=http://www.ninjatune.net/bigdada/release.php?id=1288|title=Well Deep release page|work=Big Dada website}} In 1997 he started the record label Big Dada in conjunction with Ninja Tune, signing and releasing albums by artists including Roots Manuva, Diplo, Speech Debelle and Wiley.

His works of fiction include three novels titled Clear Water (2006),{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/jul/22/featuresreviews.guardianreview15|title=Review: Clear Water by Will Ashon|last=Hawes|first=James|date=2006-07-22|website=the Guardian|access-date=2018-05-12}} The Heritage (2008){{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b63FAAAACAAJ|title=The Heritage|last=Ashon|first=Will|date=2008|publisher=Faber & Faber|isbn=9780571231041}} and The Passengers (2022){{Cite web |date=2022-08-04 |title=The Passengers by Will Ashon review – voices of a nation |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/aug/04/the-passengers-by-will-ashon-review-voices-of-a-nation |access-date=2022-09-02 |website=the Guardian |language=en}} (all published by Faber and Faber). Strange Labyrinth, a non-fictional exploration of Epping Forest, was published in 2017,{{Cite news|url=http://grantabooks.com/strange-labyrinth|title=Strange Labyrinth - Granta Books|work=Granta Books|access-date=2018-05-12}} and a collection of dialogues titled Not Far from the Junction, published by London independent publisher Open Pen.{{Cite web |last=London |first=Open Pen |date=2020-05-21 |title=Not Far From The Junction |url=https://www.openpen.co.uk/not-far-from-the-junction/ |access-date=2022-09-02 |website=Open Pen |language=en-US}} He left Big Dada in February 2014.{{Cite news|url=https://twitter.com/willashon/status/430332097719312384|title=Will Ashon on Twitter|work=Twitter|access-date=2018-05-12}} In 2019 he returned to the subject of hip hop and released a "genre defying"{{Cite web|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/granta-wu-tang-clan-will-ashon-514916|title='Genre-defying' second book from Ashon to Granta {{!}} The Bookseller|website=www.thebookseller.com|access-date=2018-05-12}} book about the Wu-Tang Clan's debut album entitled Chamber Music: Enter the Wu-Tang (in 36 Pieces).{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZINztAEACAAJ|title=Chamber Music: Enter the Wu-Tang (in 36 Pieces)|last=Ashon|first=Will|date=November 2018|publisher=Granta Books|isbn=9781783784035}}