Sam Byers (born 1979) is a British novelist. He was born in

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market town, market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – ...

and now lives in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

, where he studied at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

(MA Creative Writing, 2004; PhD, 2014). Byers'

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

''Idiopathy'', a satire based on the spread of a BSE-like disease, received a

Betty Trask Award 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 ...

and the

Waterstones 11 The Waterstones 11 was a literary book prize aimed at promoting debut authors, run and curated by British bookseller Waterstones. It ran from 2011–13. The list of 11 authors are selected from a list of 100 authors submitted by publishers. The ...

prize. ''Idiopathy'' was also shortlisted for the

2013 Costa Book Awards The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...

First Novel award, and longlisted for the 2014

Desmond Elliott Prize The Desmond Elliott Prize is an annual award for the best debut novel written in English and published in the UK. The winning novel can be from any genre of fiction and must exhibit depth and breadth with a compelling narrative. The winner receiv ...

. In 2018 Byers published his second novel, ''Perfidious Albion'', "a new media satire that switches into a hi-tech dystopia centred on class politics." In 2021 he published his third novel, ''Come Join Our Disease''.https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/apr/05/come-join-our-disease-by-sam-byers-review

Awards

*2014

, ''Idiopathy'' *2013

, ''Idiopathy''

Bibliography

* ''Idiopathy'' (2013) * ''Perfidious Albion'' (2018) * ''Come Join Our Disease'' (2021)

References

1979 births Living people Alumni of the University of East Anglia British writers 21st-century British novelists {{UK-writer-stub