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Andrea Levy (7 March 1956 – 14 February 2019) was an English author best known for the novels '' Small Island'' (2004) and ''
The Long Song ''The Long Song'' is a historical novel by Andrea Levy published in 2010 that was the recipient of the Walter Scott Prize. It was Levy's fifth and final novel, following the 2004 publication of '' Small Island''. In December 2018, a three-part ...
'' (2010). She was born in London to Jamaican parents, and her work explores topics related to
British Jamaican British Jamaicans (or Jamaican British people) are British people who were born in Jamaica or who are of Jamaican descent. The community is well into its third generation and consists of around 300,000 individuals, the second-largest Jamaican ...
s and how they negotiate racial, cultural and national identities.


Early life

Levy was of primarily
Afro-Jamaican Afro-Jamaicans are Jamaicans of predominant Sub-Saharan African descent. They represent the largest ethnic group in the country. Most Jamaicans of mixed-race descent self-report as just Jamaican. The ethnogenesis of the Black Jamaican people ste ...
descent. She had a
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
paternal grandfather and a Scots maternal great-grandfather. She said in a 2004 article: "Jews went to Jamaica in the 1600s. My paternal grandfather was born
Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...
, from a very strict family, but after fighting in the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
he became a Christian and came back and married my grandmother. His family disowned him, so I don't know much about them." Her father came to Britain on the in 1948, with her mother following later that year on a
banana boat Banana Boat is a Polish a cappella sextet, authoring and performing original songs representing the genre of neo-shanties. Being one of the pioneers of the new genre, the group retains its simultaneous focus on contemporary interpretations of ...
. Levy was born in Archway, north London, "the fourth, and baby, of the family, by a long way". She grew up on a council estate in
Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was sit ...
, also in north London, and had a typical working-class upbringing. She attended Highbury Hill Grammar School and studied textile design and
weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...
at
Middlesex Polytechnic Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated MDX) is a public research university in Hendon, northwest London, England. The name of the university is taken from its location within the historic county boundaries of ...
.


Career

Levy began her career as a costume assistant, working part-time in the costume departments of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
and the
Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...
, while starting a graphic design company with her husband Bill Mayblin. During this time, she experienced a form of awakening to her identity concerning both her gender and her race. At a racial-awareness session with colleagues at an Islington sex education project, she found herself having to choose between a "white" and "black" side, which she found a "rude awakening". Having not read a book until the age of 23, she subsequently became aware of the power of books and began to read "excessively". It was easy enough to find literature by
black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...
writers from the United States, but she could find very little literature from black writers in the United Kingdom. (A similar recognition led Marsha Hunt in 1995 to initiate the
Saga Prize The Saga Prize was a literary award for new Black British novelists, which ran from 1995 to 1998. History The actress and writer Marsha Hunt established the Saga Prize in 1995 to recognise the literature emerging from indigenous black Britons' e ...
, for which Levy would become a judge.) Levy began writing in her mid-30s, after her father died. It was not a therapeutic attempt to deal with her loss, but rather a need to understand where she came from. In 1989, she enrolled in Alison Fell's Creative Writing class at the City Lit, continuing with the course for seven years. Levy struggled initially to get her work published, her first novel being rejected by several companies that were unsure of how to market her writing. She spoke in a 1999 interview of the "herd mentality" of publishers worried about the possibly limited market appeal of her work: "the main problem was that they perceived it as being just about race, and thought it would only appeal to black readers." However, as Margaret Busby noted, Levy "proved that to write about... migration from the specific yet complex perspective of being a black English female is not a limitation to finding a wide and appreciative readership, but in fact the exact opposite."


Work

In 1994 Levy's first novel, the semi-autobiographical ''Every Light in the House Burnin, was published and attracted favourable reviews. The ''
Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' stated: "This story of a young girl in the 60s in north London, child of Jamaican migrants, stands comparison with some of the best stories about growing up poor – humorous and moving, unflinching and without sentiment". Her second novel, ''Never Far from Nowhere'' (1996), is a coming-of-age story about two sisters of Jamaican parentage, Vivian and Olive, growing up in
Finsbury Park Finsbury Park is a public park in the London neighbourhood of Harringay. It is in the area formerly covered by the historic parish of Hornsey, succeeded by the Municipal Borough of Hornsey. It was one of the first of the great London parks ...
, London in the 1970s. It was long-listed for the
Orange Prize The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–12), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017)) is one of the United Kingdom's m ...
. After ''Never Far from Nowhere'', Levy visited Jamaica for the first time and what she learned of her family's past provided material for her next book, ''Fruit of the Lemon'' (1999). The novel is set in England and Jamaica during the Thatcher era, highlighting the differences between Jamaican natives and their British descendants. ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' noted the novel "illuminates the general situation facing all children of postcolonial immigrants". Levy's fourth novel, '' Small Island'' (2004), which looks at the immediate outcomes of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
and migration on what became known as the
Windrush generation British African-Caribbean people are an ethnic group in the United Kingdom. They are British citizens whose ancestry originates from the Caribbean or they are nationals of the Caribbean who reside in the UK. There are some self-identified Afro-C ...
, was a critical success. ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''s Mike Phillips praised the writing and the subject matter, calling it Levy's "big book". Levy herself said in 2004: "When I started ''Small Island'' I didn't intend to write about the war. I wanted to start in 1948 with two women, one white, one black, in a house in
Earls Court Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...
, but when I asked myself, 'Who are these people and how did they get here?' I realised that 1948 was so very close to the war that nothing made sense without it. If every writer in Britain were to write about the war years there would still be stories to be told, and none of us would have come close to what really happened. It was such an amazing schism in the middle of a century. And Caribbean people got left out of the telling of that story, so I am attempting to put them back into it. But I am not telling it from only a Jamaican point of view. I want to tell stories from the black and white experience. It is a shared history." ''Small Island'' won three awards, namely the Whitbread Book of the Year, the Orange Prize and the
Commonwealth Writers' Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...
. The novel was subsequently made into a two-part television drama of the same title that was broadcast by the BBC in December 2009. A stage adaptation written by Helen Edmundson premiered at the National Theatre's Olivier Theatre in 2019, returning in 2022. Levy's fifth and final novel, ''
The Long Song ''The Long Song'' is a historical novel by Andrea Levy published in 2010 that was the recipient of the Walter Scott Prize. It was Levy's fifth and final novel, following the 2004 publication of '' Small Island''. In December 2018, a three-part ...
'', won the 2011
Walter Scott Prize The Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction is a British literary award founded in 2010.Walter Sc ...
and was shortlisted for the 2010 Man Booker Prize. ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...
'' called it a "sensational novel". Kate Kellaway in ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
'' commented: "''The Long Song'' reads with the sort of ebullient effortlessness that can only be won by hard work." The novel was adapted as a three-part
BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
television series that was broadcast in December 2018. Her short book ''Six Stories and an Essay'' was published in 2014. It begins with an autobiographical essay and includes stories that are drawn from various life experiences. Levy contributed to the 2019 anthology ''
New Daughters of Africa ''Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present'' is a compilation of orature and literature by more than 200 women from Africa and the African diaspora, ...
'' (edited by Margaret Busby), which has enabled an annual scholarship at
SOAS University of London SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury a ...
.
Bonnie Greer Bonnie Greer, OBE FRSL (born 16 November 1948) is an American-British playwright, novelist, critic and broadcaster, who has lived in the UK since 1986. She has appeared as a panellist on television programmes such as ''Newsnight Review'' and ''Q ...
paid tribute to Andrea Levy: "For every great writer, their own story is in their work, and is all that you really need to know.... What she described was a people integral to what the UK is. Now and forever. And their bard, Andrea Levy, is immortal." ''
The Bookseller ''The Bookseller'' is a British magazine reporting news on the publishing industry. Philip Jones is editor-in-chief of the weekly print edition of the magazine and the website. The magazine is home to the ''Bookseller''/Diagram Prize for Oddest ...
'' noted in 2019 that, in the UK, Levy had sold "a total of 1.23 million books for £7.9m, with ''Small Island'' her bestseller, selling 758,203 copies in paperback and a further 120,749 for the TV tie-in. It is the biggest-selling winner of the Women's Prize to date."


Legacy


Documentary film "Andrea Levy: Her Island Story" (2018)

Levy was the subject of a film profile entitled "Andrea Levy: Her Island Story", first shown in December 2018 in
Alan Yentob Alan Yentob (born 11 March 1947) is a BBC presenter and retired British television executive. He stepped down as Creative Director in December 2015, and was chairman of the board of trustees of the charity Kids Company from 2003 until its collap ...
's BBC One television arts documentary series ''
Imagine Imagine may refer to: * Imagination Music Albums * ''Imagine'' (Armin van Buuren album), 2008 * ''Imagine'' (Eva Cassidy album), 2002 * ''Imagine'' (Janice Vidal album), 2012 * ''Imagine'' (John Lennon album), 1971 ** ''Imagine: John Lennon' ...
''.


Radio profile "Andrea Levy: In Her Own Words" (2020)

The
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
programme "Andrea Levy: In Her Own Words" was broadcast on 8 February 2020 in the ''
Archive on 4 An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...
'' series, drawing on an in-depth interview in 2014 with oral historian Sarah O'Reilly for the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
's Authors' Lives project, in which Levy spoke on condition that the recording would only be released after her death. The interview was accompanied by contributions from friends of Levy's including
Gary Younge Gary Andrew Younge , (born January 1969) is a British journalist, author, broadcaster and academic. He was editor-at-large for ''The Guardian'' newspaper, which he joined in 1993. In November 2019, it was announced that Younge had been appointe ...
, Baroness
Lola Young Margaret Omolola Young, Baroness Young of Hornsey (born 1 June 1951) is a British actress, author, crossbench peer, and Chancellor of the University of Nottingham. Education and career Born in Kensington, Lola Young was educated at the Parlia ...
,
Louise Doughty Louise Doughty is the author of nine novels, five plays for radio and a TV mini-series. Her most recent book is ''Platform Seven'' (2019), currently being adapted as a four-part drama. The previous book, ''Black Water'', (2016) was nominated as ...
, and Margaret Busby, as well as Levy's husband Bill Mayblin.


Literary archive

It was announced in February 2020 that Levy's literary archive had been acquired by the British Library, including notebooks, research material, correspondence, emails and audio recordings.


Commemorative plaque

An Islington Heritage Plaque was unveiled in Levy's honour on her childhood home at Twyford House, Elwood Street, in
Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was sit ...
in March 2020, at a ceremony attended by her husband Bill Mayblin and family members, Islington Councillors, Baroness
Lola Young Margaret Omolola Young, Baroness Young of Hornsey (born 1 June 1951) is a British actress, author, crossbench peer, and Chancellor of the University of Nottingham. Education and career Born in Kensington, Lola Young was educated at the Parlia ...
, and other friends.


Royal Society of Literature pen collection

In November 2020 it was announced that Levy would be the first writer of colour whose pen would join the
Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...
's historic collection, which includes pens belonging to
George Eliot Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wro ...
and
Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...
.


Personal life and death

Levy was married to Bill Mayblin. She died on 14 February 2019, aged 62, after living with
metastatic breast cancer Metastatic breast cancer, also referred to as metastases, advanced breast cancer, secondary tumors, secondaries or stage IV breast cancer, is a stage of breast cancer where the breast cancer cells have spread to distant sites beyond the axillary l ...
for 15 years, and her ashes were buried on the eastern side of
Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...
.


Awards and honours

*2004:
Orange Prize for Fiction The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–12), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017)) is one of the United Kingdom's m ...
, winner, ''Small Island'' *2004: Whitbread Book of the Year, winner, ''Small Island'' *2005:
Commonwealth Writers Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...
, winner, ''Small Island'' *2005: Elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 600 Fellows, elec ...
*2010: Man Booker Prize, shortlist, ''The Long Song'' *2011:
Walter Scott Prize The Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction is a British literary award founded in 2010.Walter Sc ...
(''The Long Song'') *2012: Honorary Fellowship of
Queen Mary University of London , mottoeng = With united powers , established = 1785 – The London Hospital Medical College1843 – St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College1882 – Westfield College1887 – East London College/Queen Mary College , type = Public researc ...


Bibliography

*''Every Light in the House Burnin′'' (1994).
Headline Publishing Headline Publishing Group is a British publishing brand and former company. It was founded in 1986 by Tim Hely Hutchinson. In 1993, Headline bought Hodder & Stoughton and the company became Hodder Headline Ltd. In 1999, Hodder Headline was acq ...
, . *''Never Far from Nowhere'' (1996). Headline, . *''Fruit of the Lemon'' (1999). Review Publishing, . *'' Small Island'' (2004). Review Publishing, . *''
The Long Song ''The Long Song'' is a historical novel by Andrea Levy published in 2010 that was the recipient of the Walter Scott Prize. It was Levy's fifth and final novel, following the 2004 publication of '' Small Island''. In December 2018, a three-part ...
'' (2010). Headline Publishing, . *''Six Stories and an Essay'' (2014). Tinder Press, .


Further reading

*Blake, Robin. Review of ''Every Light in the House Burnin, by Andrea Levy. ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
''. 19 February 1995. 37. * Crampton, Robert. "England's White, Unpleasant Land". Review of ''Never Far from Nowhere'', by Andrea Levy. ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
''. 10 February 1996. WE/13. *Foster, Aisling. "On Being British". Review of ''Every Light in the House Burnin, by Andrea Levy. ''The Independent''. 27 November 1994: 38. *Gui, Weihsin. "Post-Heritage Narratives: Migrancy and Traveling Theory in V. S. Naipaul's The Enigma of Arrival and Andrea Levy's Fruit of the Lemon". ''
Journal of Commonwealth Literature ''The Journal of Commonwealth Literature'' (''JCL'') is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal that covers the field of literature, especially Commonwealth and postcolonial literatures, including colonial discourse and translational studies. ...
'' 47.1 (2012): 73–89. * *Medovarski, Andrea. I Knew This Was England': Myths of Return in Andrea Levy's Fruit of the Lemon". ''
MaComère ''MaComère'' () is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering studies of and creative works by and about women in the Caribbean and its diaspora published by the Association of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars (ACWWS). Past issues ...
'' 8 (2006): 35–66. *Perfect, Michael. Fold the Paper and Pass It On': Historical Silences and the Contrapuntal in Andrea Levy's Fiction". '' Journal of Postcolonial Writing'' 46.1 (2010): 31–41. *Shumway, Jacob Holt
Laughter Is Part of My War Effort': The Harmonizing and Humanizing Influences of Laughter in Andrea Levy's Small Island"
(thesis),
Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...
, 2018. *Toplu, Şebnem
"Home(land) or 'Motherland': Transnational Identities in Andrea Levy's Fruit of the Lemon"
'' Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal'' 3.1 (2005). *Welsh, Sarah Lawson
"Andrea Levy: her important body of work set out what it is to be black and British"
''
The Conversation ''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Cindy Williams, Frederic Forrest, Harrison Ford, Teri Garr, and Rober ...
'', 18 February 2019.


References


External links

* *
Interview with Andrea Levy
City Lit. 30 July 2010. * Younge, Gary (30 January 2010)
I started to realise what fiction could be. And I thought, wow! You can take on the world
(interview). ''The Guardian''. * Greer, Bonnie (31 January 2004)
"Empire's child: Andrea Levy on Small Island"
(interview). ''The Guardian''. *Barranger, Nicola
"Andrea Levy – Addressing the Question of Slavery"
''NewBooks''.
Andrea Levy
at
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
. {{DEFAULTSORT:Levy, Andrea 1956 births 2019 deaths 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English women writers 21st-century English novelists 21st-century English women writers Alumni of Middlesex University Black British women writers Black Jewish people Burials at Highgate Cemetery Deaths from breast cancer Deaths from cancer in England English people of Jamaican descent English people of Jewish descent English people of Scottish descent Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Walter Scott Prize winners Women historical novelists Writers from London