James Meek (author): Difference between revisions

'''James Meek''' (born 1962) is a British novelist and journalist, author of ''The People's Act of Love''. He was born in [[London]], England, and grew up in [[Dundee]], Scotland.

After a few years in England Meek returned to Edinburgh in 1988, where he worked for ''[[The Scotsman]]''. The following year, his first novel, ''McFarlane Boils the Sea'', was published.<ref name="jamesmeek1">{{cite web |url=http://www.jamesmeek.net/www.jamesmeek.net/Biography_2.html |title=biography |website=www.jamesmeek.net |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130810170749/http://jamesmeek.net/www.jamesmeek.net/Biography_2.html |archive-date=2013-08-10}}</ref> In 1990 he helped McLean set up the garage publishing house Clocktower Press.<ref>Mclean, Duncan (1997). ahead of its time. Vintage. p. ix-xxiiix–xxii. {{ISBN|0-099-26848-5}}.</ref>

In 1991, Meek moved to [[Kiev]] and in 1994 to [[Moscow]]. He joined the staff of ''[[The Guardian]]'', becoming its Moscow bureau chief. In 1999, he moved to London. He left the ''Guardian'' in 2005. He is the author of five novels, two books of short stories and a book of essays about privatisation. He is a contributing editor to ''[[The London Review of Books]]''.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, Meek was associated with the emerging experimental realist school of Scottish writers, including [[Irvine Welsh]] and [[Alan Warner]], appearing with them on the pages of the [[Kevin Williamson (writer)|Kevin Williamson]]-edited short story collection ''Children of Albion Rovers''.<ref>Williamson, Kevin (ed)(1997). ''Children of Albion Rovers''. Rebel Inc. {{ISBN|0862417317}}</ref> His fiction during this time – two novels and two books of short stories – was characterised by surrealism and absurdism and influenced by writers such as [[Franz Kafka]] and [[James Kelman]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://welcometothevelvet.com/forums/content.php?132-Interview-James-Meek |title=The Velvet - Will Christopher Baer, Craig Clevenger and Stephen Graham Jones - Interview: James Meek |website=welcometothevelvet.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123143831/http://welcometothevelvet.com/forums/content.php?132-Interview-James-Meek |archive-date=2011-11-23}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://etudesecossaises.revues.org/79|doi = 10.4000/etudesecossaises.79|title = Reason, Justice, Cannibalism|year = 2008|last1 = Leishman|first1 = David|journal = Études Écossaises|issue = 11|pages = 127–142|doi-access = free}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scottishreviewofbooks.org/index.php/back-issues/volume-8-2012/volume-eight-issue-three/501-what-if-there-is-a-god-colin-waters |title=What if There is a God? - Colin Waters |accessdate=2014-09-18 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303235120/http://www.scottishreviewofbooks.org/index.php/back-issues/volume-8-2012/volume-eight-issue-three/501-what-if-there-is-a-god-colin-waters |archivedate=3 March 2016 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Meek has described it as '"magical dirty realism'".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://aerodrome.co.za/tracing-paths-to-the-dark/|title = Aerodrome.co.za}}</ref>

Meek’s third novel, ''The People’s Act of Love'', published in 2005, brought him critical acclaim<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/23/AR2006022301720.html |title=THE PEOPLE'S ACT OF LOVE: A Novel By James Meek |first=Michael |last=Dirda |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=February 26, 2006 |accessdateaccess-date=2022-07-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/jul/09/featuresreviews.guardianreview28|title=The People's Act of Love by James Meek review – a hymn to humanity|first=Irvine|last=Welsh|website=[[TheGuardian.com]]|date=9 July 2005}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v27/n14/michael-wood/dynamite-for-cologne|title = Dynamite for Cologne|journal = London Review of Books|date = 21 July 2005|volume = 27|issue = 14|last1 = Wood|first1 = Michael}}</ref> and a wider audience. It was translated into more than twenty languages and earned a number of awards and a nomination for the [[Booker Prize]]. ''[[Newsweek]]'' magazine named it one of the top ten works of fiction of the 2000s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://2010.newsweek.com/top-10/best-fictional-books/the_people_s_actoflovebyjamesmeek.html |title='The People's Act of Love', by James Meek - Best Fictional Books - Newsweek 2010 |access-date=18 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023062947/http://2010.newsweek.com/top-10/best-fictional-books/the_people_s_actoflovebyjamesmeek.html |archive-date=23 October 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Johnny Depp]] optioned the book for a film adaptation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.movieinsider.com/m3870/the-peoples-act-of-love/|title = Everything You Need to Know About theThe People's Act of Love Movie:|date= Dec.December 15, 2006 - created the movie|first=Amy|last=Renner|website=Movie profileInsider}}</ref>

''The People's Act of Love'', about a woman and her three lovers in a small Siberian town during the [[Russian Civil War]],<ref>Meek, James, ''The People's Act of Love'', Canongate, 2005, {{ISBN|1-84195-654-6}}.</ref> was followed by ''We Are Now Beginning Our Descent'' (2008), the story of a journalist who travels to Afghanistan immediately after [[9/11]],<ref>Meek, James, ''We Are Now Beginning Our Descent'', Canongate, 2008, {{ISBN|1-84195-988-X}}.</ref> and ''The Heart Broke In'' (2012), set in contemporary Britain, where a newspaper editor blackmails a TV producer into betraying his sister.<ref>Meek, James, ''The Heart Broke In'', Canongate, 2012, {{ISBN|0-85786-290-1}}.</ref>

Besides reporting on Britain and the former Soviet Union, Meek covered the military conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq after 9/11. In 2003 he crossed the border from Kuwait into Iraq, following the invading American armies to Baghdad in a small group of journalists that included [[Dexter Filkins]].<ref>Meek, James, "With The Invaders", in ''Granta'' Issue 83, This Overheating World, 2003.</ref>

*2005: [[Scottish Arts Council]] Book of Year Award, ''The People's Act of Love''

*2005: [[Ondaatje Prize]], ''The People’s Act of Love''

*2005: [[Booker Prize]], long list, ''The People's Act of Love''

*2008: [[Le Prince Maurice Prize]], ''We Are Now Beginning Our Descent''

*2012: [[2012 Costa Book Awards|Costa Book Award]], shortlist, ''The Heart Broke In''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20406751|title= Costa Book Awards: 2012 shortlists announced|date=20 November 2012|work=BBC News|access-date=21 November 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookprizes/9691362/Costa-Prize-2012-Graphic-books-take-the-lead.html

*2002: Reuters-IUCN Media Award<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iucn.org/media/media_awards/past/ |title=IUCN - Past Awards |accessdateaccess-date=2013-10-21 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023125614/http://iucn.org/media/media_awards/past/ |archivedatearchive-date=23 October 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

*2003: British Press Awards [[Foreign Reporter of the Year]]

*2004: [[Amnesty International]] Journalist of the Year

*2015: [[Orwell Prize]]

* ''To Calais, In Ordinary Time'' (Canongate, 2019), {{ISBN|9781786896742}}

* ''Dreams of Leaving and Remaining'' (Verso, 2019), {{ISBN|9781788735230}}

* ''Private Island. Why Britain Now Belongs to Someone Else'' (Verso, 2014), {{ISBN|978-1781682906}}

* ''We Are Now Beginning Our Descent'' (Canongate, 2008), {{ISBN|1-84195-988-X}}

* ''The People's Act of Love'' (Canongate, 2005), {{ISBN|1-84195-706-2}}

* ''The Museum of Doubt'' (Rebel Inc, 2000), {{ISBN|1-84195-808-5}}

* ''Drivetime'' (Polygon, 1995), {{ISBN|0-7486-6205-7}}

* ''Last Orders and Other Stories'' (Polygon, 1992), {{ISBN|0-7486-6127-1}}

* ''McFarlane Boils the Sea'' (Polygon, 1989), {{ISBN|0-7486-6006-2}}

* ''Nous commençons notre descente'', translation [[:fr:David Fauquemberg|David Fauquemberg]], Métaillé, 2008, {{ISBN|978-2-86424-657-2}}

* ''Un acte d'amour'', translation [[:fr:David Fauquemberg|David Fauquemberg]], Métaillé, 2007, {{ISBN|978-2-86424-607-7}}

* ''Thé à l'eau de mer'' (''McFarlane Boils the Sea''), translation Fanchita Gonzalez Battle, Autrement, 1997, {{ISBN|978-2-86260-703-0}}

{{reflistReflist}}