Timothy Peter Mo (born 30December 1950) is a British Asian novelist. Born to a British mother and a

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

father, Mo lived in Hong Kong until the age of 10, when he moved to Britain. Educated at

Mill Hill School Mill Hill School is a 13–18 mixed independent, day and boarding school in Mill Hill, London, England that was established in 1807. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. History A committee of Nonconformist me ...

and

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pro ...

, Mo worked as a journalist before becoming a novelist. His works have won the

Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize The Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize is a British literary prize established in 1963 in tribute to Geoffrey Faber, founder and first Chairman of the publisher Faber & Faber. It recognises a single volume of poetry or fiction by a United Kingdom, Irish ...

, the

Hawthornden Prize The Hawthornden Prize is a British literary award that was established in 1919 by Alice Warrender, who was born at Hawthornden Castle. Authors under the age of 41 are awarded on the quality of their "imaginative literature", which can be written ...

, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for fiction), and three of his novels were shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction. Mo was also the recipient of the 1992

E. M. Forster Award The E. M. Forster Award is a $20,000 award given annually to an Irish or British writer to fund a period of travel in the United States. The award, named after the English novelist E. M. Forster, is administered by the American Academy of Arts and L ...

. His novel ''An Insular Possession'' (1986) was among the contenders in ''The Telegraph'''s list of the 10 all-time greatest Asian novels. In the early 1990s Mo became increasingly mistrustful of his publishers and increasingly outspoken about the publishing industry in general. Since 1994 when he rejected a £125,000 advance from

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

for his next novel, he has self-published his books under the label "Paddleless Press". His first novel to be self-published was ''Brownout on Breadfruit Boulevard''.

Background

Mo has been described as a British Asian author.

Novels

*''

The Monkey King Monkey King, or Sun Wukong, is a main character in the classical Chinese epic novel ''Journey to the West''. (The novel was also translated as ''The Monkey King'' by George Theiner in 1964.) Monkey King may also refer to: * Monkey King (horse) (b ...

'' (1978) *''

Sour Sweet ''Sour Sweet'' is a 1982 novel by Timothy Mo. Written as a 'sour sweet' comedy the story follows the tribulations of a Hong Kong Chinese immigrant and his initially reluctant wife as they attempt to make a home for themselves in 1960s London. It ...

'' (1982), filmed as ''

Soursweet ''Soursweet'' is a 1988 British film directed by Mike Newell. The screenplay was written by Ian McEwan from the 1982 novel '' Sour Sweet'' by Timothy Mo. Plot The story, set in the 1960s, is a comedy drama about a young Hong Kong Chinese co ...

'' in 1988 *'' An Insular Possession'' (1986) *''

The Redundancy of Courage ''The Redundancy of Courage'' is a novel by Timothy Mo published in 1991. It is set in the fictitious country of Danu in Southeast Asia, which is based on East Timor. It is narrated by Adolph Ng, an ethnic Chinese businessman educated in Canada ...

'' (1991) *'' Brownout on Breadfruit Boulevard'' (1995) *'' Renegade or Halo2'' (2000) *''

Pure Pure may refer to: Computing * A pure function * A pure virtual function * PureSystems, a family of computer systems introduced by IBM in 2012 * Pure Software, a company founded in 1991 by Reed Hastings to support the Purify tool * Pure-FTPd, F ...

'' (2012)

Awards

* 1979:

for ''The Monkey King'' * 1982: Booker Prize for Fiction (shortlist) for ''Sour Sweet'' * 1982:

for ''Sour Sweet'' * 1986: Booker Prize for Fiction (shortlist) for ''An Insular Possession'' * 1991: Booker Prize for Fiction (shortlist) for ''The Redundancy of Courage'' * 1992:

* 1999: James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for fiction) for ''Renegade or Halo2''

References

External links

* 1950 births Living people 20th-century British male writers 20th-century British novelists 21st-century British male writers 21st-century British novelists Alumni of St John's College, Oxford British male novelists British people of Hong Kong descent English people of Hong Kong descent James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients People educated at Mill Hill School {{UK-novelist-stub