Gwendoline Riley FRSL (born 1979) is a British novelist. Her seven novels, published since 2002, have won the Betty Trask Award, the Somerset Maugham Award, and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. In 2026, she received the Windham-Campbell Prize for her body of work.
Gwendoline Riley | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1979 (age 46–47) London, England, United Kingdom |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Manchester Metropolitan University |
| Period | 2002 - present |
| Genre | Literary fiction |
| Notable works | Cold Water (2002) First Love (2017) My Phantoms (2021) |
| Notable awards | Betty Trask Award (2002) Somerset Maugham Award (2008) Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize (2017) Windham-Campbell Prize (2026) |
Early life and education
editRiley was born in London, England, in 1979. After her parents' divorce, she and her brother moved with their mother to Wirral, Merseyside, where they lived with Riley's maternal grandparents.[1][2] She studied English Literature at Manchester Metropolitan University.[3]
Career
editRiley's first novel, Cold Water, was named one of the five outstanding debut novels of 2002 by The Guardian "Weekend" magazine and also won a Betty Trask Award, for writers under the age of 35.[4]
Sick Notes followed in 2004 and Joshua Spassky in 2007. For Cold Water and Sick Notes, the drama unfolds in Manchester, occasionally extending to different areas of Lancashire. Joshua Spassky, however, is set in Asheville, North Carolina — the town where Zelda Fitzgerald died in a fire at the Highland Hospital. Joshua Spassky won the 2008 Somerset Maugham Award for writers under the age of 35 and was shortlisted for the 2007 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, also for writers under the age of 35.
Her fourth novel, Opposed Positions, was published in May 2012.
Her fifth novel, First Love, was published in February 2017[5] and was shortlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction, the Gordon Burn Prize, the Goldsmiths Prize, the Dylan Thomas Prize for writers under the age of 40 and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. It won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize for writers under the age of 40.
Her sixth novel, My Phantoms, published in 2021, was shortlisted for the Folio Prize. The novel follows the difficult relationships between Bridget and her parents, both as a child and an adult. The Guardian praised it as "a brilliant portrait of a mother-daughter relationship in which every encounter is a battle" and noted that "in all its horrible, funny, uncomfortable truthfulness, it feels increasingly like a complicated act of love."[6] The Times Literary Supplement said that "her icy evocations of dysfunction and distress are unforgettable" and noted the "overwhelming sense of sorrow for the phantoms that haunt Bridget's life".[7]
Her seventh novel, The Palm House, was published in 2026. The Guardian praised Riley's "phenomenal ear for dialogue" and called it "a slim, impeccably controlled story that contains multitudes".[8]
In June 2018, Riley was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in its "40 Under 40" initiative.[9]
In 2026, Riley was awarded the $175,000 Windham-Campbell Prize, given in recognition of a writer's whole body of work.[10]
Bibliography
editNovels
edit- Cold Water (2002)
- Sick Notes (2004)
- Tuesday Nights and Wednesday Mornings: A Novella and Stories (2004)
- Joshua Spassky (2007)
- Opposed Positions (2012)
- First Love (2017)
- My Phantoms (2021)
- The Palm House (2026)
Short fiction
editAwards and honours
edit- 2002 Betty Trask Award[4] for Cold Water.
- 2007 shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, for Joshua Spassky.
- 2008 Somerset Maugham Award, for Joshua Spassky.
- 2017 shortlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction, for First Love.
- 2017 shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize, for First Love.
- 2017 shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize, for First Love.
- 2017 shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize, for First Love.
- 2017 shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, for First Love.
- 2017 Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, for First Love.
- 2022 shortlisted for the Folio Prize, for My Phantoms.
- 2026 won the Windham-Campbell Prize[10]
References
edit- ↑ Cochrane, Kira. "'You have to trawl the depths'". Guardian. Retrieved 2026-05-21.
- ↑ Cummins, Anthony. "Gwendoline Riley: 'My writing is pure instinct'". The Observer. Retrieved 2026-05-21.
- ↑ "Interview On my radar: Gwendoline Riley's cultural highlights". Guardian. Retrieved 2026-05-20.
- 1 2 "Previous Winners of Betty Trask Prize and Awards". Society of Authors. Archived from the original on 18 May 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
- ↑ Onwuemezi, Natasha (13 January 2016), "Riley moves to Granta with First Love", The Bookseller.
- ↑ Jordan, Justine (1 April 2021). "My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley review – playing toxic families". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 April 2026.
- ↑ Birch, Dinah (9 April 2021). "Let's keep things separate". Times Literary Supplement. Retrieved 17 April 2026.
- ↑ Clark, Clare (2 April 2026). "The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley review – the laureate of bad relationships". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 April 2026.
- ↑ Flood, Alison (28 June 2018). "Royal Society of Literature admits 40 new fellows to address historical biases". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
- 1 2 Loffhagen, Emma (8 April 2026). "British novelist Gwendoline Riley wins $175k Windham-Campbell prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 April 2026.