Editing Graham Swift

{{short description|British writer (born 1949)}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = Graham Swift
| honorific_suffix = [[FRSL]]
| image            = Graham Swift.jpg
| caption          = Swift in the early 1980s
| birth_name       = Graham Colin Swift
| birth_date       = {{birth date and age|1949|5|4|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [[London]], [[United Kingdom]]
| occupation       = Novelist
| education        = [[Dulwich College]]; [[Queens' College, Cambridge]]; [[University of York]]
| notableworks     = ''[[Shuttlecock (novel)|Shuttlecock]]'' (1981) <br/> ''[[Waterland (novel)|Waterland]]'' (1983) <br/>''[[Last Orders]]'' (1996)
| awards           = {{Nowrap|{{awd|[[Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize]] (1983)|[[Booker Prize]] (1996) <br> [[James Tait Black Memorial Prize]] (1996)|}}}}
}}
'''Graham Colin Swift''' [[FRSL]] (born 4 May 1949) is a [[British people|British]] writer. Born in [[London]], [[UK]], he was educated at [[Dulwich College]], [[Queens' College, Cambridge]], and later the [[University of York]].

== Career ==
Some of Swift's books have been filmed, including ''[[Waterland (film)|Waterland]]'' (1992), ''[[Shuttlecock (film)|Shuttlecock]]'' (1993), ''[[Last Orders (film)|Last Orders]]'' (1996) and ''[[Mothering Sunday (film)|Mothering Sunday]]'' (2021). His novel ''[[Last Orders]]'' was joint-winner of the 1996 [[James Tait Black Memorial Prize]] for fiction and a controversial winner of the 1996 [[Booker Prize]], owing to the many similarities in plot and structure to [[William Faulkner]]'s ''[[As I Lay Dying]]''.

The prize-winning [[Waterland (novel)|''Waterland'']] (1983) is set in [[The Fens]]. A novel of landscape, history and family, it is often cited as one of the outstanding post-war British novels and has been a set text on the English literature syllabus in British schools.<ref>[http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/210249-non-exam-assessment-guide-component-03-literature-post-1900.pdf OCR A Level English]</ref><ref>[http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/as-and-a-level/english-literature-a-7711-7712/subject-content-a-level/texts-in-shared-contexts AQA]</ref> Writer [[Patrick McGrath (novelist)|Patrick McGrath]] asked Swift about the "feeling for magic" in ''Waterland'' during an interview. Swift responded that "The phrase everybody comes up with is ''magic realism'', which I think has now become a little tired. But on the other hand there’s no doubt that English writers of my generation have been very much influenced by writers from outside who in one way or another have got this magical, surreal quality, such as [[Jorge Luis Borges|Borges]], [[Gabriel García Márquez|Márquez]], [[Günter Grass|Grass]], and that that has been stimulating. I think in general it’s been a good thing. Because we are, as ever, terribly parochial, self-absorbed and isolated, culturally, in this country. It’s about time we began to absorb things from outside."<ref>McGrath, Patrick. [http://bombsite.com/issues/15/articles/769 "Graham Swift"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116204904/http://bombsite.com/issues/15/articles/769 |date=16 January 2013 }}, ''[[BOMB Magazine]]'' Spring, 1986. Retrieved 2012-11-26.</ref>

Swift was acquainted with [[Ted Hughes]]<ref>{{cite news|first=Maev|last=Kennedy|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/mar/10/grahamswift-tedhughes|title=Graham Swift joins angling partner Ted Hughes in British Library archive|newspaper=The Guardian|date=10 March 2009|access-date=10 March 2009}}</ref> and has himself published poetry, some of which is included in ''Making an Elephant: Writing from Within'' (2009).

==List of works==

===Novels===
*''[[The Sweet-Shop Owner]]'' (1980)
*''[[Shuttlecock (novel)|Shuttlecock]]'' (1981) – winner of the 1983 [[Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize]]
*''[[Waterland (novel)|Waterland]]'' (1983) – shortlisted for [[Booker Prize]]
*''[[Out of this World (Swift novel)|Out of this World]]'' (1988)
*''[[Ever After (novel)|Ever After]]'' (1992)
*''[[Last Orders]]'' (1996) – winner of the [[1996 in literature|1996]] [[Booker Prize]]
*''[[The Light of Day (Graham Swift novel)|The Light of Day]]'' ([[2003 in literature|2003]]) – long-listed for the Man Booker Prize. 
*''[[Tomorrow (novel)|Tomorrow]]'' (2007)
*''[[Wish You Were Here (Graham Swift novel)|Wish You Were Here]]'' (2011)
*''[[Mothering Sunday (novel)|Mothering Sunday]]'' (2016) {{ISBN|978-1101947524}}<ref>[http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/535591/mothering-sunday-by-graham-swift Penguin/Random House]</ref>
*''[[Here We Are (novel)|Here We Are]]'' (2020)

===Nonfiction===
*''Making an Elephant: Writing from Within'' (2009)

===Short story collections===
*''[[Learning to Swim and Other Stories]]'' (1982)
*''[[England and Other Stories]]'' (2014)
*''Twelve Post-War Tales'' (2025)

===Short stories===
* {{cite magazine|date=January 11, 2021|title=Blushes |magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/01/18/blushes <!--access-date=2021-01-11-->}}
* {{cite magazine|date=January 17, 2022|title=Fireworks |magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/17/fireworks <!--access-date=2022-01-17-->}}
* [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/11/21/hinges "Hinges"]. ''The New Yorker''.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=2022-11-14 |title="Hinges" |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/11/21/hinges |access-date=2023-02-09 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US}}</ref> 14 November 2022.
* {{cite magazine|date=September 25, 2023|title=Bruises |magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/10/02/bruises-fiction-graham-swift <!--access-date=2023-10-03-->}}

== Adaptations ==
''Waterland'' was adapted into a [[Waterland (film)|film]] of the same name in 1992.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/waterland-1992|title=Waterland|last=Ebert|first=Roger|date=1992-11-06|website=www.rogerebert.com|language=en|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref> The film was directed by [[Stephen Gyllenhaal]] and starred [[Ethan Hawke]], [[Jeremy Irons]], and [[Sinéad Cusack]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-11-06-ca-1154-story.html|title=MOVIE REVIEW : The Past Flows Poetically Through 'Waterland'|last=Rainer|first=Peter|date=1992-11-06|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref>

Swift's novel ''[[Mothering Sunday (novel)|Mothering Sunday]]'' was adapted into [[Mothering Sunday (film)|a film in 2021]], starring [[Olivia Colman]] and [[Colin Firth]] and featuring [[Glenda Jackson]].<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12229370/ imdb] retrieved 8/10/2022.</ref>

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
* [http://download.guardian.co.uk/sys-audio/Books/Books/2007/03/26/GrahamSwift.mp3 2007 audio interview with Graham Swift on the topic of 'The Light of Day'], conducted by [[John Mullan (academic)|John Mullan]]
*[http://searcharchives.bl.uk/IAMS_VU2:IAMS032-000011135 The Papers of Graham Swift]{{Dead link|date=June 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} at the [[British Library]]
*[http://searcharchives.bl.uk/IAMS_VU2:IAMS032-002902417 Supplementary Graham Swift papers] at the British Library
*[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jan/16/graham-swift-on-last-orders-25-years-on-i-wasnt-born-a-writer-i-had-to-become-one Graham Swift on Last Orders, 25 years on: 'I wasn't born a writer - I had to become one']
*[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/mar/01/fiction.grahamswift ''The Guardian'', John O'Mahony on the unassuming Booker prizewinner who specialises in the heroism of drab lives]
*[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/mar/01/biography-graham-swift ''The Guardian'', Interview 'How did I end up becoming a novelist?']
*[https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/28578/1/ENG_thesis_Logotheti_2002.pdf The Fiction of Graham Swift - 2002 Thesis by Anastasia Logotheti]

{{Graham Swift}}
{{Booker Prize}}
{{Guardian Fiction Prize}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swift, Graham}}
[[Category:1949 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century British short story writers]]
[[Category:20th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century English novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century British short story writers]]
[[Category:21st-century English male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century English novelists]]
[[Category:Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of York]]
[[Category:Booker Prize winners]]
[[Category:English male novelists]]
[[Category:English male short story writers]]
[[Category:English short story writers]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature]]
[[Category:James Tait Black Memorial Prize recipients]]
[[Category:The New Yorker people]]
[[Category:People educated at Dulwich College]]
[[Category:British postmodern writers]]
[[Category:Writers from London]]