Lionel Shriver
| Lionel Shriver | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 18, 1957 Gastonia, North Carolina, USA |
| Occupation | Journalist, novelist |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | Late 20th century, early 21st |
Lionel Shriver is an American journalist and author.
Contents |
[edit] Early life and education
Lionel Shriver was born Margaret Ann Shriver on May 18, 1957 in Gastonia, North Carolina, to a deeply religious family (her father is a Presbyterian minister). At age 15, she changed her name from Margaret Ann to Lionel because she did not like the name she had been given, and as a tomboy felt that a conventionally male name fitted her better. She was educated at Barnard College, Columbia University (BA, MFA). She has lived in Nairobi, Bangkok and Belfast, and currently lives in London.
[edit] Personal life
She is married to jazz drummer Jeff Williams.
[edit] Writing
Shriver wrote seven novels and published six (one novel could not find a publisher) before writing We Need to Talk About Kevin, which she called her "make or break" novel due to the years of "professional disappointment" and "virtual obscurity" preceding it. In an interview in BOMB Magazine, Shriver listed her novels' subject matter up to the publication of We Need to Talk About Kevin as "anthropology and first love, rock-and-roll drumming and immigration, the Northern Irish Troubles, demography and epidemiology, inheritance, tennis and spousal competition, [and] terrorism and cults of personality...." Rather than writing traditionally sympathetic characters, Shriver prefers to create characters who are "hard to love."[1]
Shriver won the 2005 Orange Prize for her eighth published novel, We Need to Talk About Kevin, a thriller and close study of maternal ambivalence, and the role it might have played in the title character's decision to murder nine people at his high school. The book created a lot of controversy, and achieved success through word of mouth.[2]
Her experience as a journalist is wide having written for The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, The New York Times, The Economist, contributed to the Radio Ulster program "Talkback" [3] and many other publications.[4] In July 2005, Shriver began writing a column [5] for The Guardian, in which she has shared her opinions on maternal disposition within Western society, the pettiness of British government authorities, and the importance of libraries (she plans to will whatever assets remain at her death to the Belfast Library Board, out of whose libraries she checked many books when she lived in Northern Ireland).
In online articles, [6] [7] Lionel discusses in detail about her love of books and plans to leave a legacy to the Belfast Education and Library Board. She also said this about "we need to talk about Kevin" becoming a success:
- “I’m often asked did something happen around the time I wrote Kevin . Did I have some revelation or transforming event? The truth is that Kevin is of a piece with my other work. There’s nothing special about Kevin . The other books are good too. It just tripped over an issue that was just ripe for exploration and by some miracle found its audience.”[8]
In 2009, she donated the short story Long Time, No See to Oxfam's 'Ox-Tales' project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the 'Fire' collection.[9]
Shriver's newest book, So Much for That, was released March 2, 2010.[10] It was subsequently named a finalist for the National Book Award in fiction.[11]
[edit] Activism
In So Much for That, Shriver presented a biting criticism of the US health care system. She expressed the same sentiment in an interview in May 2010 while at the Sydney Writers' Festival in Australia, in which she said she was "exasperated with the way that medical matters were run in my country" and considers that she is taking "my life in my hands. Most of all I take my bank account in my hands because if I take a wrong turn on my bike and get run over by a taxi, I could lose everything I have."[12][13] She is a patron of UK population concern group Population Matters.
[edit] Novels
- The Female of the Species (1986)
- Checker and the Derailleurs (1987)
- The Bleeding Heart (1990)
- Ordinary Decent Criminals (1992)
- Game Control (1994)
- A Perfectly Good Family (1996)
- Double Fault (1997), published by Serpent's Tail
- We Need to Talk About Kevin (2003), published by Serpent's Tail
- The Post-Birthday World (2007), published by Harper Collins
- So Much for That (2010)
- The New Republic (2012)
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Shute, Jenefer. "Lionel Shriver". BOMB Magazine. Fall 2005. 26 July 2011.
- ^ "Honesty is key for Orange winner". BBC. June 7, 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4071564.stm. Retrieved 2006-12-08.
- ^ (PDF Link).
- ^ http://www.harpercollins.com/author/microsite/About.aspx?authorid=27687
- ^ Guardian Column
- ^ Belfast Telegraph
- ^ Irish Times
- ^ Irish Times
- ^ Oxfam: Ox-Tales
- ^ Times Book Review of So much for that March 2010
- ^ National Book Awards finalists 2010
- ^ How a death can mould a health reform crusader, Eleanor Hall, ABC Online, 24 May 2010, accessed 1 June 2010
- ^ US author scathing on Obama health reform, story/interview transcript and audio, Eleanor Hall, ABC Online The World Today, 24 May 2010, accessed 1 June 2010
[edit] External links
- Lionel Shriver on HarperCollins.com
- Interview at BBC Radio 4
- Biography at BBC
- Lionel Shriver Interview in Three Monkeys Online
- Interview in The Guardian, 22/4/2007
- Opinion piece on Lionel Shriver, Fortnight Magazine
- Audio: Lionel Shriver in conversation on the BBC World Service discussion show The Forum
- Ourbookclub Lionel Shriver Book Reviews Our Book Club (www.ourbookclub.net.au) provides independent review of Lionel Shriver's books. She has been selected as one of the favorite authors.
- 2005 BOMB Magazine interview of Lionel Shriver by Jenefer Shute
