Stephen Kelman (born 1976) is an English novelist, who grew up on Marsh Farm council estate in Luton. He studied

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

at the

University of Bedfordshire The University of Bedfordshire is a public research university with campuses in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England. The University has roots from 1882, however, it gained university status in 1993 as the University of Luton. The Universi ...

,"Author fulfils destiny with Booker prize nomination acclaim"
''Luton & Dunstable Express'', August 14, 2011. then worked variously as a warehouse operative, as a caseworker, and in marketing and local government administration.

Writings

Kelman took up writing seriously in 2005, as he had wanted to do from a young age. He has completed several feature screenplays since. ''Pigeon English'', Kelman's debut novel, was inspired by the murder of

Damilola Taylor Damilola Adegbite (born Oluwadamilola Adegbite; 18 May 1985) is Nigerian actress, Model, and Television personality. She played Thelema Duke in the soap opera ''Tinsel'', and Kemi Williams in the movie '' Flower Girl''. She won Best Actress in a T ...

and shortlisted for the 2011 Man Booker Prize,"Stephen Kelman: 'I feel that I've gatecrashed the Booker Prize shortlist'"
''

The London Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after bei ...

'', 7 September 2011. and the Desmond Elliot Prize, gaining him the title 2011 writer of the year and the ''Guardian'' first book award. He now lives with his wife Uzma in St Albans. Meanwhile, he has taught underprivileged children martial arts in his home town. His latest work, ''Man on Fire,'' is a fictional biography of an actual Indian journalist, Bibhuti Bhushan Nayak, with multiple Guinness and

Limca Book of Records The ''Limca Book of Records'' is an annual reference book published in India documenting world records held by Indians. The records are further categorized into education, literature, agriculture, medical science, business, sports, nature, advent ...

. The work considers human dignity and male folly, transformation, loss and rebirth. It was released by Bloomsbury Publishing house in 2015 and appeared in 28 countries.

References

External links

Stephen's page
Conville and Walsh literary agency 1976 births 21st-century English novelists People from Luton Living people Alumni of the University of Bedfordshire English male novelists 21st-century English male writers {{UK-writer-stub