Serious Sweet

Last updated

Serious Sweet
Serious Sweet.jpg
First edition
Author A. L. Kennedy
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Genre Fiction
Publisher Jonathan Cape
Publication date
2016

Serious Sweet is a 2016 novel by A. L. Kennedy. [1] It is Kennedy's 8th novel and narrates the story of a civil servant who offers letter-writing services to single women. [2]

In July 2016, it was longlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize.

Awards and honors

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Booker Prize</span> British literary award established in 1969

The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, which was published in the United Kingdom and/or Ireland. The winner of the Booker Prize receives £50,000, as well as international publicity that usually leads to a significant sales boost. When the prize was created, only novels written by Commonwealth, Irish, and South African citizens were eligible to receive the prize; in 2014, eligibility was widened to any English-language novel—a change that proved controversial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A. L. Kennedy</span> Scottish writer, academic and stand-up comedian

Alison Louise Kennedy is a Scots writer, academic and stand-up comedian. She writes novels, short stories and non-fiction, and is known for her dark tone and her blending of realism and fantasy. She contributes columns and reviews to European newspapers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colson Whitehead</span> American novelist (born 1969)

Arch Colson Chipp Whitehead is an American novelist. He is the author of nine novels, including his 1999 debut The Intuitionist; The Underground Railroad (2016), for which he won the 2016 National Book Award for Fiction and the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; and The Nickel Boys, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction again in 2020, making him one of only four writers ever to win the prize twice. He has also published two books of nonfiction. In 2002, he received a MacArthur Fellowship.

Nicola Barker is an English novelist and short story writer.

David John Taylor is a British critic, novelist and biographer, who was born and raised in Norfolk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Booker Prize</span> International literary award

The International Booker Prize is an international literary award hosted in the United Kingdom. The introduction of the International Prize to complement the Man Booker Prize, as the Booker Prize was then known, was announced in June 2004. Sponsored by the Man Group, from 2005 until 2015 the award was given every two years to a living author of any nationality for a body of work published in English or generally available in English translation. It rewarded one author's "continued creativity, development and overall contribution to fiction on the world stage", and was a recognition of the writer's body of work rather than any one title.

The Man Asian Literary Prize was an annual literary award between 2007 and 2012, given to the best novel by an Asian writer, either written in English or translated into English, and published in the previous calendar year. It is awarded to writers who are citizens or residents of one of the following 34 Asian countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, East Timor, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Japan, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, The Maldives, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam. Submissions are invited through publishers who are entitled to each submit two novels by August 31 each year. Entry forms are available from May.

<i>On Canaans Side</i> 2011 novel by Sebastian Barry

On Canaan's Side is a 2011 novel written by Irish playwright and novelist Sebastian Barry.

Anuradha Roy is an Indian novelist, journalist and editor. She has written five novels: An Atlas of Impossible Longing (2008), The Folded Earth (2011), Sleeping on Jupiter (2015), All the Lives We Never Lived (2018), and The Earthspinner (2021).

<i>Hystopia</i> 2016 novel by David Means

Hystopia is a 2016 novel by David Means. Literary critic Christian Lorentzen described the novel as "a counterfactual narrative by a Vietnam veteran, named Eugene Allen about his experience in a therapeutic, psychedelics-based trauma recovery program initiated, in the novel's alternate history, by John F. Kennedy." In July 2016, it was longlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize.

<i>The Many</i> (novel) 2016 novel by Wyl Menmuir

The Many is a 2016 novel by Wyl Menmuir. It follows the story of Timothy, a foreigner who buys an abandoned house in a coastal village. The book was longlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize.

<i>Work Like Any Other</i> 2016 novel by Virginia Reeves

Work Like Any Other is a 2016 debut novel by Virginia Reeves. Set in the 1920s, it narrates the story of a poor electrician who siphons energy from his town's electricity source to save his family from poverty. In July 2016 the book was longlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize.

<i>All That Man Is</i> 2016 novel by David Szalay

All That Man Is is a 2016 novel by David Szalay. It is a collection of nine, intertwined short stories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 Man Booker Prize</span>

The 2016 Booker Prize for Fiction was awarded at a ceremony on 25 October 2016. The Man Booker dozen of 13 books was announced on 27 July, narrowed down to a shortlist of six titles on 13 September. Paul Beatty was awarded the 2016 Booker Prize for his novel The Sellout, receiving 50,000 pounds ($61,000), and becoming the first American author to be awarded the prize.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graeme Macrae Burnet</span> Scottish author and Booker Prize nominee

Graeme Macrae Burnet is a Scottish writer. His first novel, The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau, earned him the Scottish Book Trust New Writer Award in 2013, and his second novel, His Bloody Project (2015), was shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize. In 2017, he won the Author of the Year category in the Sunday Herald Culture Awards. One review in The Guardian described Burnet's novels as an experiment with a genre that might be called "false true crime". In July 2022, Burnet's novel Case Study (2021) was named on the longlist of the Booker Prize.

<i>Autumn</i> (Smith novel) Book by Ali Smith

Autumn is a 2016 novel by Scottish author Ali Smith, first published by Hamish Hamilton. It is the first of four seasonal ‘state of the nation’ works. Written rapidly after the United Kingdom's 2016 European Union membership referendum, it was widely regarded as the first 'post-Brexit novel' dealing with the issues raised by the voters' decision. In July 2017, Autumn was longlisted for the 2017 Man Booker Prize for Fiction and in September 2017 it was announced as one of six books to make the shortlist. Many newspapers viewed it as the most likely candidate for winning; it was beaten by George Saunders' Lincoln in the Bardo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Man Booker Prize</span>

The 2017 Booker Prize for Fiction was awarded at a ceremony on 17 October 2017. The Man Booker dozen of 13 books was announced on 27 July, narrowed down to a shortlist of six titles on 13 September. George Saunders was awarded the 2017 Booker Prize for his novel Lincoln in the Bardo, receiving £50,000 (~$65,000), and becoming the second American author in a row to be awarded the prize.

The 2018 Booker Prize for Fiction was awarded at a ceremony on 16 October 2018. The Man Booker dozen of 13 books was announced on 24 July, and was narrowed down to a shortlist of six on 20 September. The longlist included Sabrina by Nick Drnaso, the first in Booker Prize history to nominate a graphic novel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Booker Prize</span> British literary award given in 2021

The 2021 Booker Prize for Fiction was announced on 3 November 2021, during a ceremony at the BBC Radio Theatre. The longlist was announced on 27 July 2021. The shortlist was announced on 14 September 2021. The Prize – which was chosen from 158 novels published in the UK or Ireland between 1 October 2020 and 30 September 2021 – was awarded to Damon Galgut for his novel, The Promise, receiving £50,000. Shortlisted twice before, Galgut is the third South African to win the prize, after J. M. Coetzee and Nadine Gordimer.

References

  1. "Man Booker prize 2016: the longlist – in pictures". The Guardian. 27 July 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  2. "Serious Sweet | the Booker Prizes".
  3. Alice (27 July 2016). "Man Booker Prize announces 2016 longlist". Man Booker. Retrieved 27 July 2016.