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Grace McCleen

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Grace McCleen
Born1981 (age 42–43)
OccupationAuthor
Notable worksThe Land of Decoration (2012), The Professor of Poetry (2013)
Notable awardsThe Desmond Elliot Prize 2012, The Betty Trask Award 2013

Grace McCleen (born 1981) is a British novelist. She was raised in a fundamentalist religion and for most of her life did not have much contact with unbelievers. She grew up in Wales, but was taken out of school and moved to Ireland for two years when she was ten.[1] She was granted an unconditional offer to study English Literature at Oxford University.[2] She graduated with a double First then completed an M.A. by Research at York University, for which she was awarded Distinction.[3]

She intended to be an academic. When she was twenty-six she began writing three novels: The Land of Decoration, published in 2012, The Professor of Poetry, published in 2013[4] and The Offering, published in 2015. She finished a fifth novel in April 2013.[3]

The Land of Decoration won the Desmond Elliott Prize in 2012[5] and the Betty Trask Award in 2013.[6]

McCleen has reviewed for The Times Literary Supplement.[3] She has written songs[7] and worked in multimedia.[8] She has written children’s stories that she has illustrated photographically.[9]

Awards and honours

Reviews

Amity Gaige in The New York Times Book Review wrote:

‘Gripping…philosophically sophisticated…McCleen never tips her hat. The writing is born of a genuine inquiry into the nature of religious belief, especially as it relates to one’s psychological development…The Land of Decoration puts a child at the crux of this interpretive dilemma, and our hearts go out to her.’[15]

Chris Cleave wrote of The Land of Decoration in The Financial Times

‘...loveable, unique and thrillingly uncategorisable...an allegory disguised as a sermon, the simulation of a partial autobiography, an impersonation of a heart-breaking psychological analysis of loneliness standing in for a useful self-help book, all the while posing as a brilliant page-turning story...an extraordinary and peculiarly haunting novel.’[16]

Hilary Mantel commented on The Professor of Poetry:

‘...an astonishing and luminous novel. The subject and form are traditional but every line is newly felt and freshly experienced…Grace McCleen is an author who, with only her second novel, is setting her own clever agenda. She is a finished artist, and performs on the page with all the aerial grace of someone who senses no limits to what she can do.’[17]

Hepzibah Anderson wrote of The Professor of Poetry in The Observer:

‘[M]esmerising...incandescent...an intricate tapestry...Escher-like in its simple complexity...the silences almost as eloquent as the words that fill it. And what eloquence! There are sentences here of such agile cleverness, charged with wit and beauty and enchantment.’[18]

References

  1. ^ ""I think I find words hardest of all": new author Grace McCleen speaks to World of Books about her debut novel, her little people, and her inspirations". Worldofbooks.com.
  2. ^ "Grace McCleen: 'Writing is really destructive to me'". The Independent.
  3. ^ a b c "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-04-16. Retrieved 2014-04-16. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ "Variations on a theme". Financial Times.
  5. ^ Alison Flood. "Grace McCleen's Christian sect novel wins Desmond Elliott prize". The Guardian.
  6. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-10-16. Retrieved 2013-10-16. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-04-16. Retrieved 2014-04-16. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-04-16. Retrieved 2014-04-16. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-04-16. Retrieved 2014-04-16. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. ^ "The 2012 Prize". The Desmond Elliott Prize. Retrieved 2017-03-08.
  11. ^ "The Society of Authors". The Society of Authors. Retrieved 2017-03-08.
  12. ^ "Shortlist for the 2014 Encore Award Honors Second Novels". Publishing Perspectives. 2014-06-24. Retrieved 2017-03-08.
  13. ^ "Winners Announced of Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize 2015". Foyles.co.uk. 2015-06-19. Retrieved 2017-03-08.
  14. ^ [1][dead link]
  15. ^ Amity Gaige (2012-06-22). "'The Land of Decoration,' by Grace McCleen". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-03-08.
  16. ^ "Small wonders". Financial Times.
  17. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-04-16. Retrieved 2014-04-16. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  18. ^ Hephzibah Anderson. "The Professor of Poetry by Grace McCleen – review". The Guardian.

External links


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