Guy Mankowski

His first novel, The Intimates, was a Recommended Title for New Writing North's 2011 Read Regional Campaign.[1] It was described by author Abigail Tarttelin as a 'measured, literary piece of work as hauntingly evocative of its setting and characters as Marilynne Robinson's Pulitzer Prize winner Housekeeping.' Culture Magazine were more critical, and called it 'unusually stylised for contemporary fiction.'[4][5]

Mankowski's second novel,[6] Letters from Yelena, was described by New Books Magazine as having 'shades of The Red Shoes and The Black Swan.'[7] The novel was given Arts Council funding, allowing Mankowski to be one of a few English people granted access to the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in Saint Petersburg for research purposes.[8] The choreographer Dora Frankel created a dance based on the book.[8] An excerpt of the novel was used as GCSE training material by Osiris Educational.[6][9] His third novel, How I Left The National Grid, was written as part of his PhD. His academic research applied the theory of Self-fashioning to the punk movement, re-appropriating it as ‘self-design’.[10] Whilst researching the book, Mankowski interviewed musicians such as Jehnny Beth from post-punk band Savages. Of the novel, The Huffington Post stated: 'Mankowski captures brilliantly the psychology of fan obsession.' The depiction of Richey Edwards in the novel was considered in a book about Edwards’ contribution to the Manic Street Preachers third album The Holy Bible.[11]

The Glasgow Review Of Books described it as a novel 'about the pitfalls of externally defined identity.'[12] Louder Than War said 'this intriguing novel is more about the pop fan's urge to remember.' The novelist Andrew Crumey commented: 'Already recognised as a major rising talent, Mankowski here establishes himself as a significant voice in British fiction.'[13][14]

Mankowski's fourth novel, An Honest Deceit, was first published in October 2016. It was a New Writing North Read Regional 2018 title, which lead to a tour of English libraries.[15][16]

Alongside Nicholas Royle he was a judge for the 2019 Waterstones Sun Story Award.[17] His fifth novel is entitled "Dead Rockstars", and it concerns the wild summer of a teenage boy struggling to get over the death of his sister, a rising star on the nineties Riot Grrrl scene.[18] He lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Lincoln.[19] His first non-fiction book is also forthcoming from Zer0 Books (John Hunt Publishing) and is entitled 'Albion's Secret History: Snapshots of England's Pop Rebels and Outsiders'. He's described it as a 'poison pen love letter to England.'[20]