Will Self | |
|---|---|
 Self in 2013 | |
| Born | William Woodard Self (1961-09-26)26 September 1961 (age 64)[1] London, England |
| Occupation | Novelist, journalist |
| Education | University College School,Hampstead Christ's College,Finchley |
| Alma mater | Exeter College, Oxford (BA) |
| Period | 1991–present |
| Genre | Literature |
| Notable works | The Book of Dave Umbrella |
| Notable awards | Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize 1991 Aga Khan Prize for Fiction 1998 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize 2008 |
| Spouse | |
| Relatives | Sir Henry Self (grandfather) Peter Self (father) Jonathan Self (brother) |
| Website | |
| will-self | |
William Woodard Self (born 26 September 1961) is an English writer, journalist, political commentator and broadcaster.[3][4][5] He has written 11 novels, five collections of shorter fiction, three novellas and nine collections of non-fiction writing. Self is currently an honoraryProfessor atBrunel University London, where his interests includepsychogeography.[6][7]
His 2002 novelDorian, an Imitation was longlisted for theBooker Prize, and his 2012 novelUmbrella was shortlisted.[6] His fiction is known for being satirical, grotesque and fantastical, and is predominantly set within his home city of London. His writing often explores mental illness, drug abuse and psychiatry.
Self is a regular contributor to publications includingThe Guardian,Harper's Magazine,The New York Times and theLondon Review of Books. He has been a columnist for theObserver,The Times, theNew Statesman, theEvening Standard andThe New European. His columns forBuilding Design on the built environment, and for theIndependent Magazine on the psychology of place brought him to prominence as a thinker concerned with the politics ofurbanism.
Self has also been a regular contributor to British television, initially as a guest on comicpanel shows such asHave I Got News for You. In 2002, Self replacedMark Lamarr on the BBC comedy panel showShooting Stars[8][9] for two series, but was himself replaced by comedianJack Dee when the programme returned in 2008.[9] He has since appeared on current affairs programmes such asNewsnight andQuestion Time. Self was a contributor to the late[10]BBC Radio 4 programmeA Point of View,[11] to which he contributed radio essays delivered in his familiar "lugubrious tones".[12] In 2013, Self took part in discussions about becoming the inaugural BBC Radio 4 Writer-in-Residence,[12] but later withdrew.[13]
Self was born inCharing Cross Hospital[14] and brought up innorth London, between the suburbs ofEast Finchley andHampstead Garden Suburb.[15] His parents werePeter John Otter Self, Professor of Public Administration at theLondon School of Economics, and Elaine Rosenbloom, fromQueens,New York, who worked as a publisher's assistant.[16][17][18] His paternal grandfather wasSir Albert Henry Self. Self spent a year living inIthaca inupstate New York.[15]
Self's parents separated when he was nine, and divorced when he was 18.[19] Despite the intellectual encouragement given by his parents, he was an emotionally confused and self-destructive child,self-harming withburns fromcigaretteembers and cuts from knives before beginning to use drugs.[20]
Self was a voracious reader from a young age. When he was 10, he developed an interest in works of science fiction such asFrank Herbert'sDune and the works ofJ. G. Ballard andPhilip K. Dick.[21][22] Into his teenage years, Self claimed to have been "overawed by the canon", which stifled his ability to express himself. Self's use of drugs increased in step with his prolific reading. He started smokingcannabis at the age of 12, progressing by way ofamphetamines,cocaine andLSD toheroin, which he started injecting at 18.[23] Self struggled with mental health issues during this period, and aged 20 became a hospitaloutpatient.[24]
Self attendedUniversity College School, anindependent school for boys inHampstead.[25] He later attendedChrist's College, Finchley, from where he went toExeter College, Oxford, readingPhilosophy, Politics and Economics and graduated with a third class degree.[23] At Oxford, he was editor of and frequent contributor to an underground left-wing student newspaper calledRed Herring/Oxford Strumpet, copies of which are archived in theBodleian Library.[26]
After graduating fromOxford, Self worked for theGreater London Council, including as a road sweeper, while residing inBrixton.[27] He pursued a career as a cartoonist for theNew Statesman and other publications and as astand-up comedian.[27] He moved toGloucester Road around 1985. In 1986 he entered a treatment centre inWeston-super-Mare, where he claimed that his heroin addiction was cured.[23] In 1989, "through a series of accidents", he "blagged" his way into running a small publishing company.[28][29]
The publication of his short story collectionThe Quantity Theory of Insanity brought him to public attention in 1991. Self was hailed as an original new talent bySalman Rushdie,Doris Lessing,Beryl Bainbridge,A. S. Byatt andBill Buford.[23] In 1993, he was nominated byGranta magazine as one of the 20 "Best Young British Novelists".[30] Conversely, Self's second book,My Idea of Fun, was "mauled" by the critics.[31]
Self joined theObserver as a columnist in 1995.[1] In 1997 when covering the election campaign ofJohn Major, he was caught, by a rival journalist, "snorting"[32]heroin on the Prime Minister's jet; he was fired as a result.[33] At the time, he argued "I'm a hack who gets hired because I do drugs".[34] He joined theTimes as a columnist in 1997.[1] In 1999 he left theTimes to join theIndependent on Sunday,[1] which he left in 2002 for theEvening Standard.[1]
He has made many appearances on British television, especially as a panellist onHave I Got News for You and as a regular onShooting Stars. Since 2008 Self has appeared five times onQuestion Time. He stopped appearing inHave I Got News for You, stating the show had become apseudo-panel show. Between 2003 and 2006, he was a regular contributor to the BBC2 television seriesGrumpy Old Men.[35]
Since 2009, Self has written two alternating fortnightly columns for theNew Statesman.The Madness of Crowds explores social phenomena andgroup behaviour, and inReal Meals he reviews high street food outlets. For a May 2014 article inThe Guardian, he wrote: "the literary novel as an art work and a narrative art form central to our culture is indeed dying before our eyes", explaining in a July 2014 article that his royalty income had decreased "dramatically" over the previous decade. The July article followed the release of a study of the earnings of British authors that was commissioned by the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society.[36]
In 2012, Self was appointed Professor of Contemporary Thought atBrunel University London.[37]
Self is apresenter for programmes onBBC Radio 4.[38][39][40][41][42][43]
Self has given his reason for writing as follows: "I don't write fiction for people to identify with and I don't write a picture of the world they can recognise. I write to astonish people."[44] "What excites me is to disturb the reader's fundamental assumptions. I want to make them feel that certain categories within which they are used to perceiving the world are unstable."[45]
When he was ten, he developed an interest in works of science fiction such asFrank Herbert'sDune and those ofJ. G. Ballard andPhilip K. Dick.[21][22] Self admires the work ofJ. G. Ballard,Alasdair Gray andMartin Amis.[46][47] He has said that he previously admiredWilliam Burroughs but went off him.[48][49] He has cited writers such asJonathan Swift,Franz Kafka,[50]Lewis Carroll[51] andJoseph Heller[52] as formative influences on his writing style.[47] Other influences on his fiction includeHunter S. Thompson.[53] Self creditsCéline's bookJourney to the End of the Night with inspiring him to write fiction.[54]
Zack Busner is a recurring character in Self's fiction, appearing in the short story collectionsThe Quantity Theory of Insanity,Grey Area andDr. Mukti and Other Tales of Woe, as well as in the novelsGreat Apes,The Book of Dave,Umbrella andShark. Busner is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst practising in London and is prone to self-promotion at the expense of his patients. He is often theantagonist of the stories he appears in, although not always with villainous intent.
Among Self's admirers was the American criticHarold Bloom.[55] JournalistStuart Maconie has described him as "that rarity in modern cultural life, a genuine intellectual with a bracing command of words and ideas who is also droll, likeable and culturally savvy."[56]
In the2015 general election Self votedLabour in a general election for the first time since1997. In May 2015, he wrote inThe Guardian: "No, I'm no longer a socialist if to be one is to believe that a socialist utopia is attainable by some collective feat of will – but I remain a socialist, if 'socialism' is to be understood as an antipathy to vested interests and privileges neither deserved nor earned, and a strong desire for a genuinely egalitarian society."[57] In March 2017, he wrote in theNew Statesman: "Nowadays I think in terms of compassionate pragmatism: I'll leave socialism toŽižek[58] and the otherbloviators."[59]
In July 2015 Self endorsedJeremy Corbyn'scampaign in theLabour Party leadership election.[60] He said during aChannel 4 News interview that Corbyn represents a useful ideological divide within Labour, and could lead to the formation of a schism in the party.[61]
Self is arepublican.[62]
From 1989 to 1997, Self was married to Kate Chancellor.[63] They have two children, a son, Alexis, and a daughter, Madeleine. They lived together in aterraced house just off thePortobello Road.[64] In 1997, Self married journalistDeborah Orr, with whom he has sons Ivan and Luther. In 2012, Orr and Self were living in a Victorian townhouse inStockwell, which collapsed.[65] In 2017, Orr and Selfseparated, and Self was living in a ex-council flat in Stockwell.[2] In October 2008, Self sent his younger children toprivate schools after they experienced bullying atstate schools inLambeth.[66] In September 2018 Self was accused of "mental cruelty" by Orr in relation to theirdivorce, in a series of posts onTwitter.[32] Orr died on 19 October 2019. As of 2024, Will Self is currently married to the French novelistNelly Kaprièlian-Self [fr].[67][68][69][70] Self's 2024 novel Elaine is partially based on his mother's diaries,[67] who died in 1988.[28] His brother is the author and journalistJonathan Self.[71]
Self is 6 feet 5 inches (196 cm) tall.[72] Since 1998, Self has abstained fromdrugs, except forcaffeine andnicotine. In 2024 he wrote: "I gave up smoking – and indeed, consuming nicotine in any way, shape or form – almost six years ago".[73][74] He had previously smoked apipe.[75] Self was diagnosed with blood diseasepolycythaemia vera in 2011. This developed intomyelofibrosis.[76][77] Self became avegetarian in 2019.[78]
Self has discussed hisJewish heritage, by way of his mother, and its impact on his identity.[79][80][81] In 2006, Self 'resigned' as a Jew as a protest against theIsraeli invasion of Lebanon.[82] In 2018 he stated in an interview with the BBC that he had rethought his position, due to the resurgence ofanti-Semitism in Britain.[83]
Self has described himself as apsychogeographer and modernflâneur, and has written about walks he has taken.[84] In December 2006, he walked 26 miles (42 km) from his home in South London toHeathrow Airport. Upon arriving atKennedy Airport he walked 20 miles (32 kilometres) from there toManhattan.[73] In August 2013, Self wrote of his anger following an incident in which he was stopped and questioned by police inYorkshire while out walking with his 11-year-old son, on suspicion of being apaedophile. The police were alerted by a security guard atBishop Burton College. He had asked the security guard for permission to cross the school grounds.[85] Self collects vintagetypewriters.[86]
In 2016, theBritish Library acquired Self's archive; the collection is a hybrid archive of paper andborn-digital material.[87] The Papers of Will Self are divided into two parts: family papers and personal and literary papers. The papers can be accessed through the British Library catalogue.[88] The archive consists of 24 large boxes of papers, artwork, audio-visual material and ahard disk drive.[89]
Self has also compiled several books of work from his newspaper and magazine columns which mix interviews with counter-culture figures, restaurant reviews and literary criticism.
Will Self's research mostly takes the form of his own fictional work and literary essay writing
He takes up the post on 1 March 2012.
A Point of View has officially left the airwaves after a long run onBBC Radio 4, with Howard Jacobsen writing and presenting the final episode.
Will Self goes on a long road trip.
There are a few affinities, except perhaps with the admirable Antonia Byatt, in the generation after: novelists I also now admire, like Will Self, Peter Ackroyd, and John Banville.
a vegetarian feast served byMargaret Thatcher The writer conjures a meal cooked byKeith Floyd and eaten byEddy Grant and his old friendMelanie Phillips — what's not to like?David Hume,Martina Topley-Bird, andMolly Bloom*"Will Self's fantasy dinner party - Will Self".Will Self. 26 January 2022. Retrieved25 October 2025.
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