University
Literary Fiction
'Celebrated British comedian Russell Kane is an alumnus of Middlesex University. He has also written several successful works of literary fiction, including The Humorist (2012) and Son of a Silverback (2019).
Also, renowned writer Monica Ali is an alumnus of Middlesex University. Her debut novel, Brick Lane (2003), was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. It was then adapted as a movie by Film Four in 2007. Ali was born in Bangladesh but, at the age of three, moved to Bolton in England with her family. Brick Lane is a street at the heart of London's Bangladeshi community.
Middlesex University teaches literary fiction (including post-colonial literature) as a part of its BA English and BA Creative Writing and Journalism degrees. In addition to that, the university has a strong tradition in both writing and researching such literature. For example, academic James Graham has researched and published books and articles concerning African literature, and Ariel Kahn was short-listed for The Guardian’s Not the Book Prize in 2018 with his novel Raising Sparks.
‘Literary fiction’ is quite an umbrella term, since it can be used to describe anything from post-colonial literature, to speculative fiction, to women’s writing, and more. Middlesex University also has a strong tradition in the researching, teaching and publishing of this diverse range. For example, current lecturer Adam Lively was selected as one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists, and lecturer Lara Thompson has recently published One Night, New York (2021) with Simon & Schuster, to great acclaim.
In addition to literary fiction, Middlesex University also teaches genres such as magical realism, fantasy, sci-fi, horror, detective fiction, true crime, romance, erotic fiction, historical fiction and alternate history. Indeed, in terms of the MA Novel Writing and the PhDs we offer in English and Creative Writing we supervise as many students interested in literary fiction as we do students looking to specialise in genre fiction.
If you would like to access some free learning materials related to genre writing, please find them here.