Jessie Greengrass (born 1982) is a British author. She won a

Somerset Maugham Award The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each year by the Society of Authors. Set up by William Somerset Maugham in 1947 the awards enable young writers to enrich their work by gaining experience in foreign countries. The awa ...

and the

Edge Hill Short Story Prize The Edge Hill Short Story Prize is a short-story contest held annually by Edge Hill University. Background The concept for the prize was developed by Professor Ailsa Cox following a 2006 short-story conference at Edge Hill. Candidates must be b ...

for her debut short story collection.

Education and career

Greengrass studied philosophy in Cambridge and London and now lives in Berwick-upon-Tweed. She published a collection of short stories called ''An Account of the Decline of the Great Auk, According to One Who Saw It'' in 2015. ''

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 ...

'' described ''The Account of the Decline of the Great Auk as'' "a highly original collection from a distinctive new voice in fiction." It won the

and the

. In 2018, she published her first novel, called ''Sight''. It follows a woman, who stays nameless throughout the novel, while she is pregnant with her second child. Greengrass includes biographical stories of several people including the

Lumière brothers Lumière is French for 'light'. Lumiere, Lumière or Lumieres may refer to: * Lumières, the philosophical movement in the Age of Enlightenment People *Auguste and Louis Lumière, French pioneers in film-making Film and TV * Institut Lumière, ...

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...

Wilhelm Röntgen Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (; ; 27 March 184510 February 1923) was a German mechanical engineer and physicist, who, on 8 November 1895, produced and detected electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range known as X-rays or Röntgen rays, an achiev ...

and John Hunter, to highlight the book's central themes of reflection and analysis. ''Sight'' was shortlisted for the 2018

Women's 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 ...

, longlisted for the 2019

Wellcome Book Prize Wellcome Book Prize (2009–2019 — paused) is an annual British literary award sponsored by Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, in the United Kingdom. It was established i ...

and shortlisted for the 2019

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, Unit ...

. Her second novel, ''The High House'', was published in April 2021. It follows an unconventional family as they survive a climate apocalypse in a house prepared by the mother, a climate scientist and activist, who knows the floods are coming but does not survive them. It was shortlisted for the 2021 the Costa Novel Award, the Royal Society of Literature's

Encore Award The £10,000 Encore Award for the best second novel was first awarded in 1990. It is sponsored by Lucy Astor. The award fills a niche in the catalogue of literary prizes by celebrating the achievement of outstanding second novels, often neglecte ...

, and the

Orwell Prize The Orwell Prize, based at University College London, is a British prize for political writing. The Prize is awarded by The Orwell Foundation, an independent charity (Registered Charity No 1161563, formerly "The Orwell Prize") governed by a boa ...

for Political Writing.

Bibliography

* ''An Account of the Decline of the Great Auk, According to One Who Saw It'' (2015) * ''Sight'' (2018) * ''The High House'' (2021)

References

1982 births Living people British poets British women novelists {{UK-writer-stub