Simon Lewis (born 1971) is a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

novelist and screenwriter, born in Newport,

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...

, in 1971. He went to school in

Monmouth Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. I ...

, then studied Art and Art History at

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wo ...

in London. After graduation, he travelled extensively in Asia, before beginning work as a travel writer for

Rough Guides Rough Guides Ltd is a British travel guide book and reference publisher, which has been owned by APA Publications since November 2017. In addition to publishing guidebooks, the company also provides a tailor-made trips service based on custome ...

publishing. He has since worked on five editions of the ''Rough Guide to China'' and is sole author of the ''Rough Guide to Shanghai'' and the ''Rough Guide to Beijing''. His first novel, ''Go'', a thriller about backpackers, was written in a village in the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 100 ...

. It was first published by small press Pulp Books in 1998, but, following favourable press, was picked up by Corgi (1999). It has since been translated into Swedish, German and Italian. His second novel, ''Bad Traffic'', is a crime thriller about people smugglers. It was published in 2008 by

Sort of Books Sort of Books is an independent British publishing house started in 1999 by Mark Ellingham and Natania Jansz, founders of the Rough Guides travel series. The company publishes both original and classic fiction and non-fiction titles: "The sort of ...

, and in 2009 by Scribner in the US. It has been translated into Swedish, German, Italian, French, Japanese and Turkish. Simon was selected as one of 21 "writers to watch" at the 2008 ''

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 ...

Hay Festival The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, better known as the Hay Festival ( cy, Gŵyl Y Gelli), is an annual literature festival held in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, for 10 days from May to June. Devised by Norman, Rhoda and Peter Florence in 1988, ...

Bibliography

Fiction

* ''Bad Traffic'', published by Scribner (1998). * ''Go'', published by Corgi (2008). * ''Border Run'' (2012).

Short story

* All Hail the New Puritans, a collection of stories edited by

Nicholas Blincoe Nicholas Blincoe is an English author, critic and screenwriter. He is the author of six novels: ''Acid Casuals'' (1995), ''Jello Salad'' (1997), ''Manchester Slingback'' (1998), ''The Dope Priest'' (1999), ''White Mice'' (2002), and ''Burning P ...

and

Matt Thorne Matthew "Matt" Thorne (born 1974) is an English novelist, writer, and journalist. Life and career Thorne grew up in Bristol, England, and was educated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Thorne's first book, ''Tourist'', was published in 19 ...

, published by Fourth Estate, * Fortune Hotel, a collection of stories edited by

Sarah Champion Sarah Deborah Champion (born 10 July 1969) is a British Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rotherham since 2012. Champion studied Psychology at Sheffield University. Before entering Parliament, she ran ...

, published by Penguin Fiction, Screen * ''The Anomaly'' * ''Jet Trash'' * ''Tiger House'' *'' Four Kids and It''

Awards and nominations

* ''Bad Traffic'' (''Trafic Sordide'') has been shortlisted for the Villeneuve les Avignon festival of crime fiction. * ''Bad Traffic'' (''Trafic Sordide'') was shortlisted for the Prix SNCF du Polar. * ''Bad Traffic'' was shortlisted for the 2008

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Since 1980, the ''Los Angeles Times'' has awarded a set of annual book prizes. The Prizes currently have nine categories: biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award added in 1991), history, mystery/thriller ( ...

br>(mystery/thriller section)
* ''Bad Traffic'' featured in the 2009 world book day "Spread the Word" promotion. *

Bradt Travel Guides Bradt Travel Guides is a publisher of travel guides founded in 1974 by Hilary Bradt and her husband George, who co-wrote the first Bradt Guide on a river barge on a tributary of the Amazon. Since then Bradt has grown into a leading independent tr ...

travel writing competition finalist in 2006.

External links

Official website
* Patrick Anderson

''Washington Post'', 29 December 2008.
In the mean streets of an unknown England
''The Yorkshire Post'', 11 February 2008.
''Yorkshire Post'' Podcast

Hay 21, Hay Festival 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Simon 1971 births Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London British crime fiction writers Living people People from Newport, Wales Welsh novelists