David Peace

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David Peace (born 1967) is an English author. Known for his novels GB84 and The Damned Utd, David Peace was named one of the Best of Young British Novelists by Granta in their 2003 list.[1]

David Peace grew up in Ossett, West Yorkshire. He was educated at Batley Grammar School and Manchester Polytechnic, which he left in 1991 to go to Istanbul to teach English. He moved to Tokyo in 1994 and returned to the UK in 2009.

The Red-Riding Quartet comprises the novels Nineteen Seventy-Four (1999), Nineteen Seventy-Seven (2000), Nineteen Eighty (2001) and Nineteen Eighty-Three (2002). The books deal with police corruption, and are set against a backdrop of the Yorkshire Ripper murders. They feature several recurring characters. Red Riding, a three-part TV adaptation of the series, aired on Channel 4 in the UK in 2009.[2]

Peace followed the quartet with GB84 (2004). This is a fictional portrayal of the year of the UK miners' strike (1984–1985). It describes the insidious workings of the British government and MI5, the coalfield battles, the struggle for influence in government and the dwindling powers of the National Union of Mineworkers. The book was awarded the prestigious James Tait Black Memorial Prize for literature in 2005.

He followed GB84 with another fact-based fictional piece, The Damned Utd (2006), which is based on Brian Clough's fateful 44-day spell in 1974 as manager of Leeds United Football Club. Entering the mind of the man who many regard as a football genius, Peace tells the story of a man characterised by a fear of failure and a hunger for success. The book has been criticised by many people[who?] involved in football at the time for containing "many inaccuracies" and mis-portraying Clough.[citation needed] Peace has described it as an "occult history of Leeds United". Peace is a supporter of Huddersfield Town, a club who are a local rival of Leeds United,[3] and the team that Leeds United played in Clough's first and last games in charge of the club. The Damned Utd has been made into a film entitled The Damned United, with Michael Sheen playing Brian Clough.[4]

Tokyo Year Zero (2007) follows the investigations of a Tokyo detective in the aftermath of Japan's defeat in World War II. It is based on the true story of serial killer Yoshio Kodaira.[5] It is the first of Peace's novels to be set outside of Yorkshire and forms the first part of a trio of books on the US military occupation of Japan. The second book, published in August 2009, is called Occupied City, a Rashomon-like telling of the Hirasawa Sadamichi case in Tokyo in 1948. The final book is tentatively titled Tokyo Regained.[6]

Peace's future plans include UKDK, about the changing face of UK politics, set around the fall of Harold Wilson and rise of Margaret Thatcher, and titles possibly including The Yorkshire Rippers and Nineteen Forty Seven.[7] He has also begun preparing a novel about Geoffrey Boycott and his relationship with Yorkshire County Cricket Club and England. He intends to stop writing novels after his twelfth novel but has joked he may publish a collection of his "very bad poetry".[8]

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] The Red Riding Quartet

  • 1999 Nineteen Seventy-Four
  • 2000 Nineteen Seventy-Seven
  • 2001 Nineteen Eighty
  • 2002 Nineteen Eighty-Three

[edit] Tokyo Trilogy

  • 2007 Tokyo Year Zero
  • 2009 Occupied City
  • 2010 Tokyo Regained (Current Working Title)

[edit] Awards

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Granta best Young British Novelists 2003: News". The Guardian. 2003. http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/page/0,,869641,00.html. Retrieved 2008-01-27. 
  2. ^ "City gives a backdrop to new drama". Bradford Telegraph & Argus. 2008-09-09. http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/local/localbrad/3660397.City_gives_a_backdrop_to_new_drama/. 
  3. ^ "The Genius of the Life of Brian". The Guardian. 2006-12-31. http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1980365,00.html. Retrieved 2008-01-27. 
  4. ^ "Clough's 44 days at Leeds United given big screen treatment". Yorkshire Evening Post. 2007-02-03. http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Clough39s-44-days-at-Leeds.2020540.jp. Retrieved 2008-01-27. 
  5. ^ Steve Finbow (2007-08-12). "A dark dissection of Tokyo at war". The Japan Times. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fb20070812a2.html. Retrieved 2007-11-24. 
  6. ^ "“Tokyo Year Zero” Author David Peace". The Foreign Correspondent's Club of Japan. 2007-11-06. http://www.fccj.or.jp/~fccjyod2/node/2889. Retrieved 2008-01-27. 
  7. ^ "Ready For War: David Peace". Stop Smiling. 2006-11-27. http://www.stopsmilingonline.com/story_detail.php?id=707. Retrieved 2008-01-27. 
  8. ^ Phelan, Stephen (2009-02-21). "The past master". Sunday Herald (Newsquest (Sunday Herald)). http://www.sundayherald.com/arts/arts/display.var.2490831.0.0.php. Retrieved 2009-02-21. 
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