Sarah Hall (born 1974) is an English

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire ...

and short story writer. Her critically acclaimed second novel, '' The Electric Michelangelo'', was nominated for the 2004

Man Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...

. She lives in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...

Biography

Hall was born in

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City ...

. She obtained a degree in English and Art History from

Aberystwyth University , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment = ...

before taking an MLitt in Creative Writing at the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

, where she briefly taught on the undergraduate Creative Writing programme. She still teaches creative writing, regularly giving courses for the

Arvon Foundation The Arvon Foundation is a charitable organisation in the United Kingdom that promotes creative writing. Arvon is one of Arts Council England's National Portfolio Organisations. Andrew Kidd is the Chief Executive Officer, Patricia Cumper is Cha ...

. She began her writing career as a poet, publishing poems in various literary magazines. Her debut novel, ''Haweswater'', is a rural tragedy about the disintegration of a community of Cumbrian hill-farmers due to the building of

Haweswater Reservoir Haweswater is a reservoir in the valley of Mardale, Cumbria in the Lake District, England. Work to raise the height of the original natural lake was started in 1929. It was controversially dammed after the UK Parliament passed a Private Ac ...

. It won the 2003

Commonwealth Writers' Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

(Overall Winner, Best First Book). Her second novel, '' The Electric Michelangelo'', set in early twentieth century

Morecambe Bay Morecambe Bay is a large estuary in northwest England, just to the south of the Lake District National Park. It is the largest expanse of intertidal mudflats and sand in the United Kingdom, covering a total area of . In 1974, the second largest ...

and

Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...

, is the biography of a fictional tattoo artist. The novel was shortlisted for the

in 2004, and again for the Commonwealth Writers Prize in 2005. In France, it was shortlisted for the

Prix Femina The Prix Femina is a French literary prize created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine '' La Vie heureuse'' (today known as '' Femina''). The prize is decided each year by an exclusively female jury. They reward French-language works written ...

Étranger 2004. Her third novel, ''The Carhullan Army'', won the 2007

John Llewellyn Rhys Prize The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize was a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of literature (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama) by an author from the Commonwealth aged 35 or under, written in English and published in the United Kingdo ...

and the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, and it was shortlisted for the 2008

Arthur C. Clarke Award The Arthur C. Clarke Award is a British award given for the best science fiction novel first published in the United Kingdom during the previous year. It is named after British author Arthur C. Clarke, who gave a grant to establish the award i ...

. In America, the novel was published under the title ''Daughters of the North''. She was invited to become writer-in-residence by the Grasmere-based Ullswater Trust – an organisation which supports and encourages writers – while working on the book. Her novel ''How to Paint a Dead Man'' was longlisted for the

. In 2013, she was included in the ''

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...

'' list of 20 best young writers. In October 2013, she won the

BBC National Short Story Award BBC National Short Story Award is a British literary award for short stories. It was founded in 2005 by the NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) with support from BBC Radio 4 and ''Prospect'' magazine. The winner re ...

for "Mrs Fox". She won for a second time in 2020 for her story "The Grotesques". In 2016 Hall was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. All her novels are 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 ...

; she participates in writing tuition classes during in-residence writing courses run by The Faber Academy. Sarah Hall has lived both in the United Kingdom and in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

. Hall is a patron of

Humanists UK Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious b ...

Bibliography

Novels

* ''Haweswater'' (2002) * '' The Electric Michelangelo'' (2004) * ''The Carhullan Army'' (2007) * ''How to Paint a Dead Man'' (2009) * ''The Wolf Border'' (2015) * ''Burntcoat'' (October 2021, )

Short-story collections

* ''The Beautiful Indifference'' (2011) * ''Mrs Fox'' (2014) * ''Madame Zero'' (2017) * ''Sudden Traveller'' (2019)

As contributor or editor

* ''Sex and Death: Stories'' (2016)

References

External links

Sarah Hall at Contemporarywriters.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Sarah 1970s births Living people English women novelists John Llewellyn Rhys Prize winners People from Carlisle, Cumbria Alumni of Aberystwyth University Alumni of the University of St Andrews Date of birth missing (living people) Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature