About Kate
Kate Atkinson won the Whitbread (now Costa) Book of the Year Award with her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum.
Her 2013 novel Life After Life, now a BBC TV series starring Thomasin McKenzie, won the South Bank Sky Arts Literature Prize and the Costa Novel of the Year Award, was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and was also voted Book of the Year by the independent booksellers associations on both sides of the Atlantic.
A God in Ruins, also a winner of the Costa Novel of the Year Award, is a companion to Life After Life, although the two can be read independently.
Her five bestselling novels featuring former detective Jackson Brodie - Case Histories, One Good Turn, When Will There Be Good News?, Started Early, Took My Dog, and Big Sky - became the BBC TV series Case Histories , starring Jason Isaacs.
Kate Atkinson was awarded an MBE in the 2011 Queen’s Birthday Honours List, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Visit the British Council's website for a full biography, bibliography, awards listing and critical perspective.
Praise
A voice that is both idiosyncratic and wise, one that sees the world in a distinctive, dark, but oddly consoling way…Atkinson is often compared in terms of her complex plots and multifaceted characters to Charles Dickens. But the novelist Life After Life most conjures is her heroine Jane Austen, whose writing is also full of a sense of might-have-been.
Telegraph
It doesn’t really matter in which genre Atkinson chooses to write. Her subject is always the irrecoverable loss of love and how best to continue living once you have glumly recognised that “That was what the world was like, things improved but they didn’t get better”. Her gift is presenting this unnerving and subversive philosophy as a dazzling form of entertainment.
The Sunday Times
What makes Kate an exceptional writer is that she does so with an emotional delicacy and understanding that transcends experiment or playfulness.
Guardian
Awards
Kate Atkinson has won numerous accolades for her books, including fiction awards, honours in historical literature, as well being recognised for her services to literature.
Costa Book Awards (2015)
Winner in the Novel of the Year category for A God in Ruins.
South Bank Sky Arts Awards (2014)
Winner in the Literature category for Life After Life.
Indie Book Awards (2014)
Winner in the Fiction category for Life After Life, judged by the Booksellers Association.
Indies Choice Book Awards (2014)
Winner in the Adult Fiction Book of the Year category for Life After Life, judged by the American Booksellers Association.
Costa Book Awards (2013)
Winner in the Novel of the Year category for Life After Life.
Specsavers National Book Awards (2013)
Winner in the Waterstones Author of the Year category for Life After Life.
Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (2011)
Awarded an MBE for Services to Literature in the 2011 Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
Richard & Judy Book Club (2009)
When Will There Be Good News? was selected for the Richard & Judy Book List.
Saltire Society’s Awards & Prix Westminster (2005)
Awarded for Case Histories.
Whitbread (now Costa) Awards (1995)
Winner of the Book of the Year Award for her first novel Behind the Scenes at the Museum.
Videos
Kate Atkinson discusses the origins and motivations behind some of her critically acclaimed novels, and shares her views and opinions on some of the TV adaptations of her work.
Interviews
A selection of interviews where Kate Atkinson discusses all manner of topics, from the origins of her writing career, to the motivations that define characters, and also the back stories to her critically acclaimed novels.
Chatelaine: Q&A with Kate Atkinson (Part I)
Kate talks about the inspiration for her latest novel, her fascination with history, and how she decided to kill off Hitler, in this first interview.
Date: 20th April 2013
Chatelaine: Q&A with Kate Atkinson (Part II)
In the second part of this interview, Kate shares her thoughts on family dynamics and what she wants to do before she dies.
Date: 27th April 2013
The Weekend Edition Saturday show on NPR
Kate Atkinson discusses her latest novel Life After Life, and the many deaths and do-overs of Ursula Todd.
Date: 28th March 2013
The Sydney Morning Herald
Kate Atkinson talks about her latest novel, Life after Life, which takes on big existential questions about the afterlife, predestination, parallel lives and reincarnation.
Date: 16th March 2013
Meet the Author with Nick Higham
Nick Higham speaks to Kate Atkinson about her latest novel, Life after Life.
Date: 14th March 2013
The Telegraph Book Club with Genevieve Fox
Genevieve Fox talks to Kate Atkinson about her latest novel, Started Early, Took My Dog. (Subscription required)
Date: 30th June 2011
Guardian Book Club: Night in the Museum
Kate Atkinson writes about the origins of Behind the Scenes at the Museum.
Date: 1st November 2008
BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour with Jenni Murray
Kate Atkinson joins Jenni Murray to discuss When Will There Be Good News?
Date: 12th August 2008
The Bat Segundo Show with Edward Champion
Kate Atkinson joins Edward Champion to discuss her latest novel, One Good Turn.
Date: 21st December 2006
The Weekend Edition Saturday Show on NPR
Kate Atkinson talks about her latest novel, One Good Turn, and how starting her career later in life has had an impact.
Date: 18th November 2006
Explore books by Kate Atkinson
