DO NOT be surprised that Birmingham author RJ Ellory has shot to fame with his book A Quiet Belief of Angels chosen by the Richard and Judy Book Club.
This city has a fine and distinguished literary tradition which – in typically Brummie fashion – has remained largely hidden.
Catherine O'Flynn, Clare Morrall and Jim Crace are local writers who have recently enjoyed a high profile.
Then there is Jonathan Coe, David Lodge and Benjamin Zephaniah.
JRR Tolkien spent much of his early life in Moseley and Edgbaston, Arthur Conan Doyle lived and worked in Aston and WH Auden grew up in Solihull until he was packed off to prep school.
Outsiders might poke fun at the way we speak, but we don't half write well!
Comments (2)
You're absolutely right about 'Brummie' lit generally being hidden but even more so if it's about the real nitty gritty hard working-class Brum so many of us know. Birmingham is/was first and foremost an inventive industrial city and the majority of its people being solid blue collar hard working class with tough lives, hands and hearts. Cast your eye over the books you list however and a different image emerges. Generally they are effete middle class characters prancing about in idealised well off worlds,(eg John (oops sorry) Jonathon Coe's 'Rotters' Club', imagine calling somebody 'a rotter' in Kingstanding!).
So if the book pushers accidently by-pass their natural instinct to not review any Brummie Book, if it's working class Brummie they quickly regain their control and reject it out of hand. Unfortunately this is true of the Birmingham movers and shakers too. I have experienced this first hand with my book 'The Last Viking' which is about a bunch of Brummie Bad-lads who pulled off the world's greatest robbery (bigger than the recent £53 mill London job!)
Firmly set in Brum it also features Guernsey. Result, the main newspapers over there have done several reviews including a full page spread, Brummie papers, nothing. Over there, I have been interviewed on BBC TV, Radio and ITV TV, Brummie media, only Danny Kelly (God bless him)did a piece when I signed a film option contract to bring it to the silver screen. The main bookshops on Guernsey stock it, only independent Bonds Bookshop of Harborne stock it in Brum. The Film Production Company is in the Jewelery Quarter but again this has cut no ice with the dominant middle class Brummie media. Perhaps I should have set it in London!
I'm still proud to be Brummie but with the reviews and enthusiasm 'The Last Viking' gets from all who read it I can only assume that its working class characters and base line constitutes a poisoned chalice for the Birmingham Literati and media.
Ron (oops Sorry) Ronald Dawson, Dr no less!
Posted by Ron Dawson | January 31, 2008 11:14 AM
Posted on January 31, 2008 11:14
You're absolutely right about 'Brummie' lit generally being hidden but even more so if it's about the real nitty gritty hard working-class Brum so many of us know. Birmingham is/was first and foremost an inventive industrial city and the majority of its people being solid blue collar hard working class with tough lives, hands and hearts. Cast your eye over the books you list however and a different image emerges. Generally they are effete middle class characters prancing about in idealised well off worlds,(eg John (oops sorry) Jonathon Coe's 'Rotters' Club', imagine calling somebody 'a rotter' in Kingstanding!).
So if the book pushers accidently by-pass their natural instinct to not review any Brummie Book, if it's working class Brummie they quickly regain their control and reject it out of hand. Unfortunately this is true of the Birmingham movers and shakers too. I have experienced this first hand with my book 'The Last Viking' which is about a bunch of Brummie Bad-lads who pulled off the world's greatest robbery (bigger than the recent £53 mill London job!)
Firmly set in Brum it also features Guernsey. Result, the main newspapers over there have done several reviews including a full page spread, Brummie papers, nothing. Over there, I have been interviewed on BBC TV, Radio and ITV TV, Brummie media, only Danny Kelly (God bless him)did a piece when I signed a film option contract to bring it to the silver screen. The main bookshops on Guernsey stock it, only independent Bonds Bookshop of Harborne stock it in Brum. The Film Production Company is in the Jewelery Quarter but again this has cut no ice with the dominant middle class Brummie media. Perhaps I should have set it in London!
I'm still proud to be Brummie but with the reviews and enthusiasm 'The Last Viking' gets from all who read it I can only assume that its working class characters and base line constitutes a poisoned chalice for the Birmingham Literati and media.
Ron (oops Sorry) Ronald Dawson, Dr no less!
Posted by Ron Dawson | January 31, 2008 11:15 AM
Posted on January 31, 2008 11:15