A. L. Kennedy
A.L. Kennedy in 2012
Born	Alison Louise Kennedy (1965-10-22)22 October 1965 (age 60) Dundee, Scotland
Occupation	Writer, academic, comedian
Nationality	Scots
Citizenship	United Kingdom
Education	University of Warwick
Website
www.a-l-kennedy.co.uk

Alison Louise Kennedy (born 22 October 1965) is a Scottish writer, academic and stand-up comedian. She writes novels, short stories and non-fiction, and is known for her dark tone and her blending ofrealism andfantasy. She contributes columns and reviews to European newspapers.^[1]

Kennedy was born inDundee to Edwardene Mildred, a teacher, andRobert Alan Kennedy, a psychology lecturer. Her parents divorced when she was 13. She attended the fee-payingHigh School of Dundee and went on to study for a BA Hons inTheatre Studies and Dramatic Arts at theUniversity of Warwick.^[2][3][4]

From 1987 to 1989,^{[citation needed]} Kennedy was a community arts worker for Clydebank District Council. She then went on to a role aswriter-in-residence forHamilton andEast Kilbride Social Work Department from 1989 to 1991. Her work there won a special Social Work Today Award in 1990. From 1989 to 1995 she worked on Project Ability, a Glasgow-based visual arts organisation. In 1995 she was a part-time lecturer at theUniversity of Copenhagen.^[4][5]

In 2009, she donated the short storyVanish to Oxfam'sOx-Tales project, four collections of stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the "Air" collection.^[6] In 2016, her novelSerious Sweet was long-listed for theBooker Prize.^[7]

In December 2019, along with 42 other leading cultural figures, she signed a letter endorsing theLabour Party underJeremy Corbyn's leadership in the2019 general election. The letter stated that "Labour's election manifesto under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership offers a transformative plan that prioritises the needs of people and the planet over private profit and the vested interests of a few."^[8][9]

In 2020 she began contributing a column on her views ofBrexit to the German daily paperSüddeutsche Zeitung.^{[10][11][12][13]}

Kennedy currently lives in theScottish Highlands, having moved fromWivenhoe^[14] and has been an associate professor increative writing at theUniversity of Warwick^[15] since 2007, having previously taught creative writing at theUniversity of St Andrews from 2003 to 2007.^[16][17]

By 2006, she had been doing stand up comedy performances in clubs in Scotland.^[18][19] She has performed as a stand-up comedian at theEdinburgh Fringe and literary festivals. Her main comedy club has beenThe Stand Comedy Club in Edinburgh.^[20]

Her 2023 novelAls lebten wir in einem barmherzigen Land was first published in German rather than in the original English.^[21]

• Scottish Arts Council Book Award four times^[5]
• 1993, 2003Granta Best Young British Novelist^[5][22]
• 1991Saltire Society Scottish First Book of the Year,Night Geometry and the Garscadden Trains^[23]
• 1993Edinburgh Fringe First,The Audition^[23][24]
• 1994Somerset Maugham Award,Looking for the Possible Dance^[5][23]
• 1996Encore Award winner,So I Am Glad^[25]
• 1999 ElectedFellow of the Royal Society of Literature^[26]
• 2007Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year,Day^[5][27]
• 2007Lannan Literary Award for Fiction^[5]
• 2007Austrian State Prize for European Literature winner^[28]
• 2007Costa Book Awards Book of the Year, winner forDay^[29]
• 2008 Internationale Eifel-Literatur-Preis^[5][30]
• 2014Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award shortlistAll the Rage^[31]
• 2016Heinrich Heine Prize^[32]
• 2016Ehrenpreis des Österreichischen Buchhandels für Toleranz in Denken und Handeln^[33]

• Looking for the Possible Dance (1993)ISBN 978-0-7493-9758-6
• So I Am Glad (1995)ISBN 978-0-09-945721-3
• Everything You Need (1999)ISBN 978-0-09-973061-3
• Paradise (2004)ISBN 978-0-09-943349-1
• Day (2007)ISBN 978-0-09-949405-8
• The Blue Book (2011)ISBN 978-0-224-09140-4
• Doctor Who: The Drosten's Curse (2015)ISBN 978-0-553-41944-3
• Serious Sweet (2016)ISBN 978-0-224-09844-1
• The Little Snake (2018)ISBN 978-1786893864
• Alive in the Merciful Country (2024)ISBN 978-1916812284
  • German:Als lebten wir in einem barmherzigen Land (2023)ISBN 978-3-446-27624-6

• Night Geometry and the Garscadden Trains (1990)ISBN 978-0-09-945006-1
• Now That You're Back (1994)ISBN 978-0-09-945711-4
• Tea and Biscuits (1996)ISBN 978-1-85799-757-6
• Original Bliss (1997)ISBN 978-0-09-973071-2
• Indelible Acts (2002)ISBN 978-0-09-943348-4
• What Becomes (2009)ISBN 978-0-224-07787-3
• All the Rage (2014)ISBN 978-0544307049
• We Are Attempting to Survive Our Time (2020)ISBN 978-1787331822

• Life & Death of Colonel Blimp (1997)ISBN 0-85170-568-5
• On Bullfighting (1999)ISBN 0-224-06099-6
• On Writing (2013)ISBN 978-0-224-09697-3

"Stella Does Tricks (1996) Channel 4 films"Dice" (2001), withJohn Burnside

• Confessions of a Medium (2010), broadcast as theSaturday Play onBBC Radio 4, 13 March 2010 and 1 March 2013^[34]
• Happy Families (2011), broadcast on BBC Radio 3, 1 September 2011
• Love Love Love Like The Beatles (2012), broadcast as theAfternoon Drama on BBC Radio 4, 26 June 2012
• AA: America's Gift to the World (2014), broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 6 April 2015^[35]
• Subterranean Homesick Blues (5 series beginning 2015), broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from 14 September 2015
• A Single Act (first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 25th Dec, 2023)

Wikimedia Commons has media related toA. L. Kennedy.

• Official website
• A. L. Kennedy atBritish Council: Literature
• Profile atThe Guardian
• A. L. Kennedy reading at writLOUD in London

• 1965 births
• 20th-century Scottish novelists
• 21st-century Scottish novelists
• 20th-century Scottish women writers
• 21st-century Scottish women writers
• Living people
• Academics of the University of St Andrews
• Academics of the University of Warwick
• Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature
• John Llewellyn Rhys Prize winners
• People from Dundee
• People educated at the High School of Dundee
• Scottish non-fiction writers
• Scottish women novelists
• 20th-century Scottish short story writers
• Scottish women short story writers
• 21st-century British short story writers
• Writers from Dundee
• Scottish republicans
• 20th-century British women novelists
• 21st-century British women novelists

• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from January 2020
• Use British English from December 2014
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from July 2021
• Articles containing German-language text
• Commons category link from Wikidata