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Jon McGregor

(b.1976)

Jon McGregor was born in Bermuda in 1976.

He moved with his family to England and spent his childhood in Norwich and Thetford, Norfolk, later studying at Bradford University for a degree in Media Technology and Production. He started writing seriously during his final year at University, contributing a series entitled 'Cinema 100' to the anthology Five Uneasy Pieces (Pulp Faction). He has had short fiction published by several magazines, including Granta magazine. He has been runner-up in the BBC National Short Story Competition twice, in 2010 and 2011.

Genres: Literary Fiction

Series

Reservoir
Reservoir 13 (2017)
The Reservoir Tapes (2017)

Novels

   If Nobody Speaks Of Remarkable Things (2002)
   So Many Ways to Begin (2006)
   Even the Dogs (2010)
   Lean Fall Stand (2021)

Collections

The BBC National Short Story Award 2010 (2010) (with David Constantine, Aminatta Forna, Sarah Hall and Helen Oyeyemi)
This Isn't The Sort Of Thing That Happens To Someone Like You (2012)

Awards

	Betty Trask Award Best First Novel winner (2003) : If Nobody Speaks Of Remarkable Things
	The Man Booker Prize Best Novel nominee (2006) : So Many Ways to Begin
	International IMPAC Dublin Literary Awards Best Novel winner (2012) : Even the Dogs
	Goldsmiths Prize Best Book nominee (2017) : Reservoir 13
	The Man Booker Prize Best Novel nominee (2017) : Reservoir 13
	Rathbone Folio Prize Best Book nominee (2018) : Reservoir 13
	International IMPAC Dublin Literary Awards Best Book nominee (2019) : Reservoir 13

Jon McGregor recommends

All Among the Barley (2017)
Melissa Harrison
"An incredible evocation of one particular corner of rural England in the 1930s. Powerful and subtle and richly detailed, this is a book that inhabits its territory, knows its people, and follows its own haunting logic. Some of the great themes of English life are tackled here - class division, the patriarchy, folklore and psychosis, creeping fascism - but rather than being simply ticked off they are instead woven into the narrative with great subtlety and beauty. I've been following Melissa Harrison's work with interest for some time now, and with this novel she's done what I've long suspected she would: she's written a masterpiece."

The House on Vesper Sands (2018)
Paraic O'Donnell
"I'm not completely sure what the word 'rollicking' means, but I can personally guarantee that The House on Vesper Sands is a rollicking good read. For a novel about grief, estrangement, and the literal stealing of vulnerable young women's souls, this book is a lot more fun than it has any right to be. Paraic O'Donnell's sheer love of his characters is exuberant and infectious; the dialogue crackles with verve and wit, and the plotting is as intricately satisfying as a heavy pocket watch. The setting may be Victorian , but in modern parlance this novel is an absolute banger."

Doggerland (2019)
Ben Smith
"Both terrifying and hugely enjoyable, I absolutely loved it."

A Lonely Man (2021)
Chris Power
"A Lonely Man is a remarkable debut; an accomplished and intricately plotted story that manages to be both thrilling and deeply considered. If you're a fan of existential crises, family dramas, Putin-era paranoias, and Bolaño-style multiplicities, and want to see them woven into one taut novel, you're in the right place. A lonely triumph."

The Great Mistake (2021)
Jonathan Lee
"A wonderful, compelling, finely-tuned and deeply loveable novel, with a central character who is all of those things too. Jonathan Lee has taken the bare facts of a nearly-forgotten life and turned them into a rich and unforgettable story, told with a relish for language and voice. Mr. Andrew Haswell Green now has permanent lodgings in my brain, and very welcome he is too."

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