Kate Atkinson

Kevin P. Smith (Sheffield Hallam University); Revised By: M. Carmen Gomez-Galisteo (Universidad Isabel I)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kerry Myler (Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

Born 1951
Activity 1995-ongoing

Places

Born in England
Active in England; Scotland

Activities

Primary

Novelist
Playwright / Dramatist
Story-writer

Resources

Kate Atkinson arrived upon the literary scene when her debut novel Behind the Scenes at the Museumunexpectedly won the 1995 Whitbread book of the year prize (renamed Costa Award n 2006), beating the favourites, Salman Rushdie's The Moor's Last Sighand Roy Jenkins' Gladstone.

Behind the Scenes at the Museum, one of the dissenting judges of the Whitbread prize commented, is postmodern, “although I don't know if Kate Atkinson knows it”. In fact, Atkinson had previously written a PhD thesis at the University of Dundee on “The post-modern American short story in its historical context”. Although she failed her viva, it is safe to assume that …

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3325 words

Citation: Smith, Kevin P., M. Carmen Gomez-Galisteo. "Kate Atkinson". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 September 2002; last revised 28 May 2019. [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5191, accessed 24 November 2024.]

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