Andrew O'Hagan
Encyclopedia
Andrew O'Hagan, FRSL is a Scottish
novelist and non-fiction author. He is also an Editor at Large
of Esquire
and is currently a creative writing fellow at King's College London
. He was selected by the literary magazine Granta for inclusion in their 2003 list of the top 20 young British novelists. His novels appear translated into 15 languages. His essays, reports and stories have appeared in The London Review of Books, New York Review of Books,Granta
, The Guardian
, and The New Yorker
.
, and grew up in Kilwinning
, North Ayrshire
. He is of Irish Catholic descent and attended St Michael's Academy in Kilwinning before studying at the University of Strathclyde
.
, where he worked for four years.
In 1995, he published his first book, The Missing, to considerable critical acclaim. The book crosses genres by exploring the lives of people who have gone missing in Britain and the families left behind. The Missing was shortlisted for three literary awards.
In 1999, O'Hagan's debut novel, Our Fathers
(1999), was nominated for several awards, including the Booker Prize
, the Whitbread First Novel Award, and the IMPAC Literary Award
. It won the Winifred Holtby Prize for Fiction.
In 2003, his next novel Personality, which has close similarities to the life of Lena Zavaroni
, won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize
for fiction
. That same year, O'Hagan won the E.M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
In 2006, his third novel, Be Near Me, was published by Faber and Faber and long-listed for that year's Booker Prize. It went on to win the Los Angeles Times Prize for Fiction 2008 (and later adapted for state).
In 2008, he edited a new selection of Robert Burns's poems for Canongate
, published as A Night Out With Robert Burns. A copy was lodged in every secondary school in Scotland. Following on from this, he wrote and presented a three-part film on Burns for the BBC, The World According to Robert Burns, first on 5 January 2009. In January 2011, Scotland on Sunday
gave away 80,000 copies of the book. Also in 2008, Faber & Faber also published O'Hagan's first collection of non-fiction, The Atlantic Ocean: Essays on Britain and America. The latter was shortlisted for the 2008 Saltire Book of the Year Award.
O'Hagan's 2010 novel The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog, and of His Friend Marilyn Monroe is a picaresque story told in the voice of a Scottish Maltese poodle called Maf, the name of the real dog given by Frank Sinatra
to Marilyn Monroe
in 1960. It was published by Faber & Faber in May 2010 and won O'Hagan the Spirit of Scotland Award.
In 1996, Channel Four Television presented Calling Bible John: Portrait of a Serial Killer, nominated for a BAFTA award.
In 2009, his novel "Be Near Me" was adapted by Ian MacDiarmid for the Donmar Warehouse and the National Theatre of Scotland.
In September 2011, The National Theatre of Scotland presented The Missing as a play adapted by O'Hagan and directed by John Tiffany at Tramway theatre in Glasgow. The play received favorable reviews. The Daily Telegraph called it "a profound act of mourning and memory." The Guardian called it, "an arresting, genre-defying work – part speculative memoir, part Orwellian social reportage" that "induces the kind of shock he [the author] must have experienced..."
.
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
novelist and non-fiction author. He is also an Editor at Large
Editor at large
An Editor-at-Large is a journalist who contributes content to a publication.Unlike an editor who works on a publication from day-to-day and is hands on, an editor-at-large will contribute content on a regular or semi-regular basis and will have less of a say on a specific field such as layout,...
of Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
and is currently a creative writing fellow at King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
. He was selected by the literary magazine Granta for inclusion in their 2003 list of the top 20 young British novelists. His novels appear translated into 15 languages. His essays, reports and stories have appeared in The London Review of Books, New York Review of Books,Granta
Granta
Granta is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centers on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and make real." In 2007, The Observer stated, "In its blend of...
, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, and The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
.
Early life
O'Hagan was born in GlasgowGlasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, and grew up in Kilwinning
Kilwinning
Kilwinning is a historic town in North Ayrshire, Scotland. It is known as The Crossroads of Ayrshire. The 2001 Census recorded it as having a population of 15,908.-History:...
, North Ayrshire
North Ayrshire
North Ayrshire is one of 32 council areas in Scotland with a population of roughly 136,000 people. It is located in the south-west region of Scotland, and borders the areas of Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire to the north-east and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the East and South...
. He is of Irish Catholic descent and attended St Michael's Academy in Kilwinning before studying at the University of Strathclyde
University of Strathclyde
The University of Strathclyde , Glasgow, Scotland, is Glasgow's second university by age, founded in 1796, and receiving its Royal Charter in 1964 as the UK's first technological university...
.
Writings
In 1991, O'Hagan joined the staff of the London Review of BooksLondon Review of Books
The London Review of Books is a fortnightly British magazine of literary and intellectual essays.-History:The LRB was founded in 1979, during the year-long lock-out at The Times, by publisher A...
, where he worked for four years.
In 1995, he published his first book, The Missing, to considerable critical acclaim. The book crosses genres by exploring the lives of people who have gone missing in Britain and the families left behind. The Missing was shortlisted for three literary awards.
In 1999, O'Hagan's debut novel, Our Fathers
Our Fathers (novel)
Our Fathers is the debut novel by Scottish novelist Andrew O'Hagan. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize . It was also nominated for the Whitbread First Novel Award and the IMPAC Literary Award....
(1999), was nominated for several awards, including the Booker Prize
Man Booker Prize
The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. The winner of the Man Booker Prize is generally assured of international renown and...
, the Whitbread First Novel Award, and the IMPAC Literary Award
International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award is an international literary award for a work of fiction, jointly sponsored by the city of Dublin, Ireland and the company IMPAC. At €100,000 it is one of the richest literary prizes in the world...
. It won the Winifred Holtby Prize for Fiction.
In 2003, his next novel Personality, which has close similarities to the life of Lena Zavaroni
Lena Zavaroni
Lena Hilda Zavaroni was a Scottish child singer and a television show host. With her album Ma! He's Making Eyes At Me at ten years of age, she is the youngest person in history to have an album in the UK album chart top ten. Later in life she hosted TV shows and appeared on stage...
, won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
Founded in 1919, the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are among the oldest and most prestigious book prizes awarded for literature written in the English language and are Britain's oldest literary awards...
for fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
. That same year, O'Hagan won the E.M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
In 2006, his third novel, Be Near Me, was published by Faber and Faber and long-listed for that year's Booker Prize. It went on to win the Los Angeles Times Prize for Fiction 2008 (and later adapted for state).
In 2008, he edited a new selection of Robert Burns's poems for Canongate
Canongate
The Canongate is a small district at the heart of Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland.The name derives from the main street running through the area: called Canongate without the definite article, "the". Canongate forms the lower, eastern half of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh's historic Old Town....
, published as A Night Out With Robert Burns. A copy was lodged in every secondary school in Scotland. Following on from this, he wrote and presented a three-part film on Burns for the BBC, The World According to Robert Burns, first on 5 January 2009. In January 2011, Scotland on Sunday
Scotland on Sunday
Scotland on Sunday is a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published in Edinburgh by The Scotsman Publications Ltd and consequently assuming the role of Sunday sister to its daily stablemate The Scotsman...
gave away 80,000 copies of the book. Also in 2008, Faber & Faber also published O'Hagan's first collection of non-fiction, The Atlantic Ocean: Essays on Britain and America. The latter was shortlisted for the 2008 Saltire Book of the Year Award.
O'Hagan's 2010 novel The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog, and of His Friend Marilyn Monroe is a picaresque story told in the voice of a Scottish Maltese poodle called Maf, the name of the real dog given by Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
to Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
in 1960. It was published by Faber & Faber in May 2010 and won O'Hagan the Spirit of Scotland Award.
Adaptations
Three of O'Hagan's books have received adaptations into different media.In 1996, Channel Four Television presented Calling Bible John: Portrait of a Serial Killer, nominated for a BAFTA award.
In 2009, his novel "Be Near Me" was adapted by Ian MacDiarmid for the Donmar Warehouse and the National Theatre of Scotland.
In September 2011, The National Theatre of Scotland presented The Missing as a play adapted by O'Hagan and directed by John Tiffany at Tramway theatre in Glasgow. The play received favorable reviews. The Daily Telegraph called it "a profound act of mourning and memory." The Guardian called it, "an arresting, genre-defying work – part speculative memoir, part Orwellian social reportage" that "induces the kind of shock he [the author] must have experienced..."
Other activities
In 2008, O'Hagan was a visiting fellow in Creative Writing at Trinity College, DublinTrinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
.
- UNICEF: In 2001, O'Hagan was named as a Goodwill AmbassadorGoodwill AmbassadorGoodwill Ambassador is a collective term sometimes used as a substitute honorific title or a title of honor for an Ambassador of Goodwill; but, most appropriately for a generic recognition, it is a job position or description that is usually indicated following the name of the individual recognized...
by the UK branch of UNICEF, and he has since been involved in fundraising efforts for the organization. He has travelled to the Sudan, India, Malawi and Mozambique and has joined fellow ambassadors Ewan McGregorEwan McGregorEwan Gordon McGregor is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting , young Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy , and poet Christian in the...
, Ralph FiennesRalph FiennesRalph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....
, James NesbittJames NesbittJames Nesbitt is a Northern Irish actor. Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Nesbitt grew up in the nearby village of Broughshane, before moving to Coleraine, County Londonderry. He wanted to become a teacher like his father, so he began a degree in French at the University of Ulster...
, Martin BellMartin BellMartin Bell, OBE, is a British UNICEF Ambassador, a former broadcast war reporter and former independent politician...
and Jemima KhanJemima KhanJemima Marcelle Khan is a British writer and campaigner. She is associate editor of the New Statesman and European editor-at-large for Vanity Fair. She has worked as a charity fundraiser, human rights campaigner and contributing writer for British newspapers and magazines...
in campaigning for Unicef.
- Honors:
- 2008: Made Honorary Doctor of Letters by University of StrathclydeUniversity of StrathclydeThe University of Strathclyde , Glasgow, Scotland, is Glasgow's second university by age, founded in 1796, and receiving its Royal Charter in 1964 as the UK's first technological university...
- 2008: Joined Robert Burns Humanitarian Award judging panel
- 2009: Made honorary lifetime member of Irvine Burns Club
- 2010: Made Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature.
- undated: Trustee of George Orwell Trust
- undated: Patron of Scottish Book TrustScottish Book TrustThe Scottish Book Trust is a national organisation based in Edinburgh, Scotland for the promotion of literature, reading and writing in Scotland...
- 2008: Made Honorary Doctor of Letters by University of Strathclyde
Fiction books
- Our FathersOur Fathers (novel)Our Fathers is the debut novel by Scottish novelist Andrew O'Hagan. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize . It was also nominated for the Whitbread First Novel Award and the IMPAC Literary Award....
, 1999 - Personality, 2003
- Be Near Me, 2006
- The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog, and of His Friend Marilyn Monroe (2010)
Other writings
- Short stories: online text from Sunday Times, 7 December 2008
- Editing:
- New Writing 11, 2002
- The Weekenders: Adventures in Calcutta, 2004
- A Night Out With Robert Burns, 2008
- Book Reviews:
- "Racing against reality" The New York Review of BooksThe New York Review of BooksThe New York Review of Books is a fortnightly magazine with articles on literature, culture and current affairs. Published in New York City, it takes as its point of departure that the discussion of important books is itself an indispensable literary activity...
54/11 (28 June 2007): 4-8 [review of Don DeLilloDon DeLilloDon DeLillo is an American author, playwright, and occasional essayist whose work paints a detailed portrait of American life in the late 20th and early 21st centuries...
, Falling manFalling Man (novel)Falling Man is the title of a Don DeLillo novel, published May 15, 2007. An excerpt from the novel appeared in short story form as "Still Life" in the April 9, 2007, issue of The New Yorker magazine.-Plot summary:...
] - "Run" Publishers WeeklyPublishers WeeklyPublishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
Fiction Reviews: Week of July 16, 2007. Review of RunRun (novel)Run is a 2007 novel by American author Ann Patchett. It is her first novel to be published since her widely successful Bel Canto .-Plot summary:...
by Ann PatchettAnn PatchettAnn Patchett is an American author. She received the Orange Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 2002 for her novel Bel Canto. Patchett's other novels include Run, The Patron Saint of Liars, Taft, and The Magician's Assistant, which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize...
.
- "Racing against reality" The New York Review of Books
Awards
The British Council lists the following awards and nominations for O'Hagan's work:- 1995 - Esquire Award for The Missing (shortlist)
- 1995 - McVitie's Prize for Scottish Writer of the Year for The Missing (shortlist)
- 1995 - Saltire Society Scottish First Book of the Year Award for The Missing (shortlist)
- 1996 - BAFTA, Calling Bible John
- 1999 - Booker Prize for Fiction for Our Fathers (shortlist)
- 1999 - Whitbread First Novel Award for Our Fathers (shortlist)
- 2000 - Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for Our Fathers (shortlist)
- 2000 - Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize for Our Fathers
- 2001 - International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for Our Fathers (shortlist)
- 2003 - James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for fiction), Personality
- 2010 - Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award for Writing
External links
- Profile at the Contemporary Writers website, including a critical assessment
- O'Hagan at the 2004 Republican National Convention: an article printed in the LRB
- Andrew O'Hagan interviewed with CBC Radio One's Eleanor Wachtel
- Video: Andrew O'Hagan on writing, reading and drinking in Scotland on Scottish Book Trust
- O'Hagan author page and article archive from The New York Review of Books