David Peace (born 1967) is an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
writer. Best known for his UK-set novels
Red Riding Quartet (1999–2002), ''
GB84'' (2004), ''
The Damned Utd
''The Damned Utd'' is a biographical novel by British author David Peace, published in 2006. Depicting events in the life of English football personality Brian Clough, it is set during Clough's brief and unsuccessful 44-day spell as manager of ...
'' (2006), and ''
Red or Dead'' (2013), Peace was named one of the Best of Young British Novelists by ''
Granta
''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...
'' in their 2003 list.
Biography
David Peace was born in Dewsbury and grew up in
Ossett
Ossett is a market town in the City of Wakefield metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated between Dewsbury, Horbury and Wakefield. At the 2011 Census, the population was ...
,
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...
. He was educated at
Batley Grammar School,
Wakefield College
Wakefield College is a Further Education and Higher Education College in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It has provided education in the city since 1868. On 1 March 2022, the college merged with Selby College to form the 'Heart of Yorkshi ...
and
Manchester Polytechnic
Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has over 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Educat ...
, which he left in 1991 to go to
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
to teach English. He moved to
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
in 1994 and returned to the UK in 2009. He went back to Tokyo in 2011, because he found it hard to write in Britain. He has lectured in the Department of Contemporary Literary Studies at the University of Tokyo since his return to Tokyo in 2011.
''Red-Riding Quartet''
The ''Red-Riding Quartet'' comprises the novels ''Nineteen Seventy-Four'' (1999), ''Nineteen Seventy-Seven'' (2000), ''Nineteen Eighty'' (2001) and ''Nineteen Eighty-Three'' (2002). The books deal with
police corruption
Police corruption is a form of police misconduct in which law enforcement officers end up breaking their political contract and abuse their power for personal gain. This type of corruption may involve one or a group of officers. Internal police ...
, and are set against a backdrop of the
Yorkshire Ripper
Peter William Sutcliffe (2 June 1946 – 13 November 2020) was an English serial killer who was dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper (an allusion to Jack the Ripper) by the press. Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering 13 women and attempting t ...
murders between 1975 and 1980. They feature several recurring characters. ''
Red Riding
''Red Riding'' is a British crime drama limited series written by Tony Grisoni and based on the book series of the same name by David Peace. The series comprises the novels ''Nineteen Seventy-Four'' (1999), ''Nineteen Seventy-Seven'' (2000), ' ...
'', a three-part TV adaptation of the series, aired on
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
in the UK in 2009. The cast includes
Sean Bean
Sean Bean (born Shaun Mark Bean on 17 April 1959) is an English actor. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Bean made his professional debut in a theatre production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' in 1983. Retaining his Yorkshire ac ...
,
Andrew Garfield
Andrew Russell Garfield (born 20 August 1983) is an English and American actor. He has received various accolades, including a Tony Award, a BAFTA TV Award and a Golden Globe Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards. ''Time' ...
and
Rebecca Hall
Rebecca Maria Hall (born 3 May 1982) is an English actress and filmmaker. She made her first onscreen appearance at age 10 in the 1992 television adaptation of '' The Camomile Lawn'', directed by her father, Sir Peter Hall. Her professional s ...
.
''GB84''
Peace followed the quartet with ''
GB84'' (2004). This is a fictional portrayal of the year of the
UK miners' strike (1984–1985) UK miners' strike may refer to:
* UK miners' strike (1893)
* South Wales miners' strike (1910)
*National coal strike of 1912
* UK miners' strike (1921)
* UK miners' strike (1953)
* UK miners' strike (1969), a widespread unofficial strike
* UK miner ...
. It describes the insidious workings of the
British government
ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd
, image = HM Government logo.svg
, image_size = 220px
, image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg
, image_size2 = 180px
, caption = Royal Arms
, date_es ...
and
MI5
The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...
, the coalfield battles, the struggle for influence in government and the dwindling powers of the
National Union of Mineworkers. The book was awarded the
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Uni ...
for literature in 2005.
''The Damned Utd, Red or Dead''
He followed ''GB84'' with another fact-based fictional piece, ''
The Damned Utd
''The Damned Utd'' is a biographical novel by British author David Peace, published in 2006. Depicting events in the life of English football personality Brian Clough, it is set during Clough's brief and unsuccessful 44-day spell as manager of ...
'' (2006), which is based on
Brian Clough
Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Engl ...
's fateful 44-day spell in 1974 as manager of
Leeds United Football Club
Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...
. Entering the mind of the man who many regard as a football genius, Peace tells the story of a man characterised by a fear of failure and a hunger for success. Peace has described it as an "occult history of Leeds United". Former footballer and manager
Johnny Giles
Michael John Giles (born 6 November 1940) is an Irish former association football player and manager best remembered for his time as a midfielder with Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s. After retiring from management in 1985, Giles served as t ...
threatened to sue Peace for ''The Damned Utd'' as to what he perceived were gross untruths in the book. As part of an out of court settlement, the publisher of ''The Damned Utd'',
Faber and Faber
Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...
, agreed to remove from any future editions the references perceived by Giles as damaging and untrue.
Peace is a supporter of
Huddersfield Town
Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...
, a club who are a local rival of
Leeds United
Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...
, and the team that
Leeds United
Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...
played in Clough's first and last games in charge of the club. ''The Damned Utd'' has been made into a film entitled ''
The Damned United
''The Damned United'' is a 2009 British sports drama film directed by Tom Hooper and adapted by Peter Morgan from David Peace's bestselling 2006 novel ''The Damned Utd'' – a largely fictional book based on the author's interpretation of Bria ...
'', with
Michael Sheen
Michael Christopher Sheen OBE (born 5 February 1969) is a Welsh actor, television producer and political activist. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage rol ...
playing Brian Clough.
Peace's novel ''
Red or Dead'', about
Bill Shankly and the rise of
Liverpool Football Club
Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has ...
, was published in August 2013 and was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize that year.
''Tokyo Trilogy''
''Tokyo Year Zero'' (2007) follows the investigations of a Tokyo detective in the aftermath of Japan's defeat in
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 opposin ...
. It is based on the true story of
serial killer
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A
*
*
*
* with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
Yoshio Kodaira
was a Japanese serial killer, serial rapist, and war criminal who murdered at least 8 people in the Tokyo and Tochigi Prefecture areas between 1932 and 1946.
Kodaira killed his father-in-law in 1932 and later raped and murdered at least 7 wom ...
. It is the first of Peace's novels to be set outside of Yorkshire and forms the first part of a trio of books on the
U.S. military occupation of Japan. The second book, published in August 2009, is called ''Occupied City'', a ''
Rashomon
is a 1950 Jidaigeki psychological thriller/crime film directed and written by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori, and Takashi Shimura ...
''-like telling of the
Hirasawa Sadamichi case in Tokyo in 1948. The final volume, ''Tokyo Redux'', published in 2021, is based on the 1949
Shimoyama incident
The was the disappearance and death of Sadanori Shimoyama, the first president of Japanese National Railways, in Tokyo on 5 July 1949. Shimoyama disappeared on his way to work and his body was discovered on the Jōban Line in Adachi the next d ...
.
As a separate stand alone novel, but set in Japan, ''Patient X'', was published in 2018. Subtitled ''The Case-Book of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa'', it follows the life of author
Akutagawa from his childhood to his suicide in 1927, including his witnessing of the
Great Kantō earthquake that devastated most of Tokyo and much of the surrounding region in 1923.
Plans
Peace's plans include ''UKDK'', about the changing face of UK politics, set around the fall of
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...
and rise of
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
, and titles possibly including ''The Yorkshire Rippers'' and ''Nineteen Forty Seven''. He has also begun preparing a novel about
Geoffrey Boycott
Sir Geoffrey Boycott (born 21 October 1940) is a former Test cricketer, who played cricket for Yorkshire and England. In a prolific and sometimes controversial playing career from 1962 to 1986, Boycott established himself as one of England's m ...
and his relationship with
Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Yorkshire County Cricket Club is one of 18 first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Yorkshire. Yorkshire are the most successful team in English cricketing hi ...
and
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. He intends to stop writing novels after his twelfth novel but has joked he may publish a collection of his "very bad poetry".
Bibliography
Red Riding Quartet
* 1999 ''Nineteen Seventy-Four''
* 2000 ''Nineteen Seventy-Seven''
* 2001 ''Nineteen Eighty''
* 2002 ''Nineteen Eighty-Three''
Tokyo Trilogy
* 2007 ''Tokyo Year Zero''
* 2009 ''Occupied City''
* 2021 ''Tokyo Redux''
Standalone novels
* 2004 ''GB84''
* 2006 ''The Damned Utd''
* 2013 ''Red or Dead''
* 2018 ''Patient X: the Case-Book of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa''
Essays, reporting, and other contributions
*
Awards
* 2003 Best of Young British Novelists (
Granta
''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...
)
* 2005
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Uni ...
(''
GB84'')
Discography
Vox
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peace, David
1967 births
Living people
21st-century English novelists
English expatriates in Japan
English male novelists
James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients
People from Ossett
The New Yorker people
21st-century English male writers
Alumni of Manchester Metropolitan University