Ben Myers

Benjamin Myers
Born (1976-01-10) 10 January 1976
Durham, England
Occupation Writer
Alma mater University of Bedfordshire
Notable awards The Portico Prize For Literature. The Gordon Burn Prize. Roger Deakin Award. Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction.
Spouse Adelle Stripe

Benjamin Myers (born 1976, Durham) is an English writer and journalist (as Ben Myers).


Work

Myers' books span literary fiction, nature/landscape writing, crime, historical fiction and poetry. His book The Gallows Pole (2017), a novelisation of the true story of the Cragg Vale Coiners, received a Roger Deakin Award and won the 2018 Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction[1]. Beastings (2014) won the Portico Prize For Literature and the Northern Writers' Award. It was also longlisted for the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize.

Pig Iron (2012) was set in the traveller/gypsy community of the north-east of England and was the first to be published under his full name Benjamin Myers. It won the inaugural Gordon Burn Prize[2] and was longlisted for 3:AM Magazine.com's 'Novels of the Year'[3] and runner-up in The Guardian's 'Not The Booker Prize',[4] in the same year.

In 2014 Myers won the Society of Author's Tom-Gallon Trust Award,[5] for his short story, 'The Folk Song Singer'. He was runner-up in the same prize in 2018 for his story 'A Thousand Acres Of English Soil'. His poem 'The Path To Pendle Hill' was selected by New Statesman as one of its Poems Of The Year 2015[6] and work from the same collection were read by Myers on BBC1 programme Countryfile.

Myers' second novel, Richard: A Novel (2010) was a fictionalized account of the life of musician Richey Edwards. It was published by Picador in October 2010, and polarised critical opinion.

As a teenager Myers began writing for British weekly Melody Maker. In 1997 he became their staff writer. As of 2017 he has written about literature, music and the arts for a number of publications including New Statesman, Mojo, The Guardian, NME, The Spectator, BBC, New Scientist, Alternative Press, Kerrang!, Plan B, Arena, Bizarre, The Quietus, Vice, Shortlist, Caught by the River, Metal Hammer, The Morning Star, Classic Rock, 3:AM Magazine, Mineshaft and Time Out. In 2011 he published an article,[7] about his brief time as an intern at News of the World.

Myers has also published several poetry collections and written a number of music biographies which have been widely translated. He has spoken about failing English Literature at A-level and being rejected by "more than a hundred" universities before being accepted by the University of Bedfordshire (formerly Luton University).

He is a founding member of the Brutalists, a literary collective including authors Adelle Stripe and Tony O'Neill, and widely acknowledged as the first literary movement to be launched by social networking sites.

As of 2014, Myers has been straight edge for ten years.[8]

Bibliography

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Fiction

Novels

Crime fiction

  • These Darkening Days (Moth/Mayfly, 2017)
  • Turning Blue (Moth/Mayfly, 2016)

Short fiction

  • Snorri & Frosti[11] (Galley Beggar Press / 3:AM Press, 2013)

Non-fiction

  • Under The Rock (Elliott & Thompson, 2018)
  • American Heretics: Rebel Voices In Music (Codex, 2002)

Poetry

  • The Raven of Jórvíkshire (Tangerine Press, 2017)
  • Heathcliff Adrift (New Writing North, 2014. Reissued 2018)
  • Nowhere Fast (co-written with Tony O'Neill and Adelle Stripe (Captains Of Industry, 2008)
  • Spam: Email Inspired Poems (Blackheath, 2008)
  • I, Axl: An American Dream (online only, 2008–2009)

Music biography / essays

  • John Lydon : The Sex Pistols, Pil and Anti-Celebrity (IMP 2005)
  • Green Day : American Idiots and the New Punk Explosion (IMP / Disinformation, 2005)
  • System of a Down : Right Here in Hollywood (IMP / Disinformation, 2006)
  • Muse : Inside the Muscle Museum (IMP 2004 and 2007)
  • The Clash : Rock Retrospectives (2007, with Ray Lowry)

Awards

References

  1. ↑ "Benjamin Myers wins Walter Scott Prize 2018". BBC.com. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  2. ↑ "Benjamin Myers wins Gordon Burn Prize". Newwritingnorth.com. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  3. ↑ "3:AM Awards 2012: Longlist " 3:AM Magazine". 3ammagazine.com. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  4. ↑ Sam Jordison. "Not the Booker prize: The winner | Books". theguardian.com. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  5. ↑ "Tom-Gallon Trust Award | Society of Authors – Protecting the rights and furthering the interests of authors". Society of Authors. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  6. ↑ "New Statesman: Poems of the Year 2015".
  7. ↑ "MY TIME UNDERCOVER AT THE NEWS OF THE WORLD". Viceland.com. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  8. ↑ Myers, Ben (29 June 2014). "Call Of The Wild: Ben Myers' Beastings Playlist". The Quietus. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  9. ↑ "benjamin myers pig iron: Books". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  10. ↑ "Richard: Amazon.co.uk: Ben Myers: Books". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  11. ↑ "Snorri & Frosti by Ben Myers Ltd Edition Christmas paperback from 3AM Press – with added sparkles! – Galley Beggar Press". Galleybeggar.co.uk. 1 December 2013. Archived from the original on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
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