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Nicholas Laird (born 1975) is a Northern Irish novelist and poet.


Education

Laird was born in
Cookstown Cookstown ( ga, An Chorr Chríochach, IPA: �anˠˈxoːɾˠɾˠˈçɾʲiːxəx is a small town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the fourth largest town in the county and had a population of 11,599 in the 2011 census. It, along with Magh ...
,
County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an administrative division for local government but retai ...
, where he attended the local comprehensive school. He then gained entry to
Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Sidney Sussex College (referred to informally as "Sidney") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1596 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), wif ...
, where he initially studied Law but switched to English, in which he attained a first-class degree and won the
Arthur Quiller-Couch Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (; 21 November 186312 May 1944) was a British writer who published using the pseudonym Q. Although a prolific novelist, he is remembered mainly for the monumental publication '' The Oxford Book of English Verse ...
Award for Creative Writing. He went on to work at the law firm
Allen & Overy Allen & Overy LLP (informally A&O) is an international law firm. The firm has 580 partners and over 5,600 people worldwide.  In 2022 A&O reported an increase in revenue to GBP1.96 billion and is the second largest law firm headquartered in t ...
in London for six years, before leaving to concentrate on his writing.


Personal life

Laird met Zadie Smith at Cambridge University. They married in 2004 in the Chapel of
King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...
. Smith dedicated her third novel, ''
On Beauty ''On Beauty'' is a 2005 novel by British author Zadie Smith, loosely based on ''Howards End'' by E. M. Forster. The story follows the lives of a mixed-race British/American family living in the United States, addresses ethnic and cultural diff ...
'', to "my dear Laird." The couple lived in
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
from November 2006 to 2007 and now live in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and
Queen's Park, London Queen's Park is an area located partly in the City of Westminster and partly in the London Borough of Brent. Some of the area within Westminster forms a civil parish, the first to be created in London since the right of communities to establish ...
. They have two children.


Poetry


''To a Fault''

''To a Fault'' is Laird's first collection of poems, and was nominated for the
Forward Prize The Forward Prizes for Poetry are major British awards for poetry, presented annually at a public ceremony in London. They were founded in 1992 by William Sieghart with the aim of celebrating excellence in poetry and increasing its audience. The ...
for Best First Collection. ''To a Fault'' was published by
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 ...
in January 2005.


''On Purpose''

''On Purpose'' is his follow-up book of poems, published also by Faber and Faber in 2007. The collection further explores the concept of relationships, loosely based on the tract ''
The Art of War ''The Art of War'' () is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the Late Spring and Autumn Period (roughly 5th century BC). The work, which is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu ("Master Sun"), is com ...
'' by
Sun Tzu Sun Tzu ( ; zh, t=孫子, s=孙子, first= t, p=Sūnzǐ) was a Chinese military general, strategist, philosopher, and writer who lived during the Eastern Zhou period of 771 to 256 BCE. Sun Tzu is traditionally credited as the author of '' The ...
. The book won the Somerset Maugham Award and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize in 2008.


''Go Giants''

''Go Giants'' is Laird's third collection, published by Faber and Faber in 2015.


''Feel Free''

Laird's fourth collection, published by Faber and Faber in August 2018, was shortlisted for the 2018
T. S. Eliot Prize The T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry is a prize that was, for many years, awarded by the Poetry Book Society (UK) to "the best collection of new verse in English first published in the UK or the Republic of Ireland" in any particular year. The Priz ...
.


Novels


''Utterly Monkey''

''Utterly Monkey'' was published in May 2005 by Fourth Estate, and by Harper Perennial in the US. It follows the relationship of two childhood friends from Northern Ireland. One of them, Danny, grows up to be a lawyer after attaining an education in London, while the other, Geordie, works as a labourer and does not pursue extensive studies after school. Laird has described Geordie as "more feckless than Danny" and "a kind of a drifter." The novel also explores the ongoing political and military conflict within Northern Ireland known as
The Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...
. When asked whether or not Americans can comprehend and identify with the experiences of people in Northern Ireland, Laird replied: "I think they can, but I don't think they do,” and cited the "low level of discourse" that he has encountered in regard to this subject when he travels to America.


''Glover's Mistake''

Review from ''
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 ...
'':
A blog called The Damp Review figures prominently in Nick Laird's new novel. On it David Pinner, once an art student, now a teacher who dabbles in cultural criticism, writes about "whatever took his fancy. Or didn't," Mr. Laird writes. "He found it easier to write on disappointments. Hatreds, easier still." At the beginning of the book David goes to an art opening for Ruth Marks, a feminist American artist who is in London on a yearlong residency. Ruth was once David's teacher, and they strike up a friendship. But Ruth strikes up more with David's much-younger roommate, James Glover, who plays the innocent to David's cynic. And, as the romance between Ruth and James develops, so does David's anger and unhappiness. Mr. Laird is also a poet, a day job he reveals in sentences like "David realized he'd been unconsciously pushing his nails into his palms, leaving little red falciform marks."
''
The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...
'' also featured the book.


''Modern Gods''

Published in 2017.


Influences and themes

In a January 2006 appearance on '' The Leonard Lopate Show'', Laird explained how travelling out of Northern Ireland for an education in Cambridge had expanded his horizons and opened him up to opportunities that he believes would have otherwise been closed to him: "I met a Jewish person for the first time. I met a black person for the first time." He also described the freedom that moving away from Northern Ireland gave him with respect to adopting a new, or broader, identity. "It does mean freedom in a way to reinvent." One of the themes in Laird's writing is the interpersonal relationships forged between men and women, and in the Lopate interview, he cited
Ian McEwan Ian Russell McEwan, (born 21 June 1948) is an English novelist and screenwriter. In 2008, ''The Times'' featured him on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945" and ''The Daily Telegraph'' ranked him number 19 in its list of th ...
and
Nick Hornby Nicholas Peter John Hornby (born 17 April 1957) is an English writer and lyricist. He is best known for his memoir '' Fever Pitch'' and novels '' High Fidelity'' and '' About a Boy'', all of which were adapted into feature films. Hornby's work ...
as writers whom he admired for their ability to weave this element into their work. Laird is also one of the post-
Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an " ...
young novelists from
Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
, who have emerged to articulate the identity of the generation whose childhoods were experienced amid some of the region's worst violence, but who also matured in an era of problematic reconciliation. Along with Robert McLiam Wilson, whose novel ''Eureka Street'' was widely acclaimed, the most successful young novelists from Belfast are
Glenn Patterson Glenn Patterson (born 1961) is a writer from Belfast, best known as a novelist. Biography Patterson was born in Belfast where he attended Methodist College Belfast. He graduated from the University of East Anglia (BA, MA), where he was a produc ...
, author of six novels and a collection of essays, and
Colin Bateman Colin Bateman (known mononymously as Bateman) is a novelist, screenwriter and former journalist from Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. Biography Born on 13 June 1962, Bateman attended Bangor Grammar School leaving at 16 when he was hired ...
, a very prolific and commercially successful author of comic novels about contemporary Belfast including '' Divorcing Jack''. Laird also cited the enduring influence of Irish poet
Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.
on his life and work, tracing his love of literature back to reading some of Heaney's early work, which he claimed "seems to be written out of the same place that you live."


Recognition and prizes

''To a Fault'' and ''Utterly Monkey'' were both long-listed for the inaugural
Dylan Thomas Prize The Dylan Thomas Prize is a leading prize for young writers presented annually. The prize, named in honour of the Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas, brings international prestige and a remuneration of £30,000 (~$46,000). It is open to published w ...
. ''To a Fault'' won the Jerwood Aldeburgh Prize, the Ireland Chair for Poetry Award and the Rupert and Eithne Strong Award. It was also shortlisted for the Forward Poetry Prize for First Collection; it was shortlisted for the Poetry Now Award in 2006; and it was longlisted for the
Guardian First Book Award The Guardian First Book Award was a literary award presented by ''The Guardian'' newspaper. It annually recognised one book by a new writer. It was established in 1999, replacing the Guardian Fiction Award or Guardian Fiction Prize that the newspap ...
. Laird won the
Eric Gregory Award The Eric Gregory Award is a literary award given annually by the Society of Authors for a collection by British poets under the age of 30. The award was founded in 1960 by Dr. Eric Gregory to support and encourage young poets. In 2021, the seve ...
in 2004 and was also the recipient of the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2005. ''Utterly Monkey'' won the
Betty Trask Prize The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are for first novels written by authors under the age of 35, who reside in a current or former Commonwealth nation. Each year the awards total £20,000, with one author receiving a larger prize amount, called the ...
for best first novel in 2005. It was also shortlisted for the Commonwealth best first novel award, the Irish novel of the year award, and the Kerry Group Listowel Fiction prize. ''On Purpose'' won a Somerset Maugham Award and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize in 2007. He participated in the
Bush Theatre The Bush Theatre is located in the Passmore Edwards Public Library, Shepherd's Bush, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It was established in 1972 as a showcase for the work of new writers. The Bush Theatre strives to create a s ...
's 2011 project ''
Sixty Six Books ''Sixty-Six Books'' was a set of plays premiered at the Bush Theatre, London, in 2011, to mark the theatre's reopening on a new site and the 400th anniversary of the King James Version. It drew its title from the 66 books of the Protestant Bible ...
'', with a piece he wrote based upon a book of the
King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of ...
.


Bibliography


Novels

* * *


Poetry

;Collections * * * * *Contributor to ''A New Divan: A Lyrical Dialogue between East and West,''
Gingko Library Gingko is a UK-based charitable foundation created in 2014 to promote dialogue and understanding with the Middle East, West Asia and North Africa through conferences, publications, events and cultural programmes. It should not be confused with Ging ...
, 2019. ;List of poems


See also

* List of Northern Irish writers


References


External links


"It's nothing to do with me"
''Guardian'' profile/interview of Nick Laird.

Interview by the ''Daily Telegraph''.
Nick Laird
Biography, courtesy of British Council Arts.
Lad Lit
Interview on WNYC's Leonard Lopate Show.


Utterly Monkey, by Nick Laird
PopMatters book review.





{{DEFAULTSORT:Laird, Nick 1975 births Living people 21st-century British poets 21st-century British male writers Allen & Overy people Alumni of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Male novelists from Northern Ireland Male poets from Northern Ireland People from Cookstown People educated at Cookstown High School The New Yorker people