Adam Thirlwell

Thirlwell in 2023

Adam Thirlwell FRSL (born 22 August 1978) is a British novelist and essayist. His work has been translated into thirty languages. He has twice been named as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists (in 2003 and 2013). In 2015, he received the E.M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is an advisory editor of The Paris Review.

Early life and education

Thirlwell was educated at the independent Haberdashers' Boys' School, Elstree. He read English at New College, Oxford, where he earned a first-class degree in 2000. He was a Prize Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, between 2000 and 2007, and worked as assistant editor at the literary magazine Areté. He now lives in London.

In 2011, he served as the Samuel Fischer Guest Professor of Comparative Literature at the Freie Universität Berlin. In 2015, he was named an Honorary Fellow of the Metaphysical Club at the Domus Academy in Milan.

Work

Thirlwell is the author of four novels: Politics (2003), The Escape (2009), described by Milan Kundera as "a novel where the humour is melancholic, the melancholy mischievous, and the talent startling", Lurid & Cute (2015), and The Future Future (2023).

His essay collection and reflection on translation and the history of the European novel was published in 2007 as Miss Herbert in the United Kingdom and as The Delighted States in the United States. It was chosen as a book of the year by Tom Stoppard in The Guardian and A. S. Byatt in the Times Literary Supplement. He guest-edited Multiples, an anthology exploring translation and experimental rewriting, published as an issue of McSweeney's Quarterly in 2013. In 2019, he co-curated Studio Créole with Hans Ulrich Obrist, an international performance piece featuring novelists and simultaneous interpreters which premiered at the Manchester International Festival.

His experimental book with unfolding pages, Kapow!, was designed by Studio Frith and published by Visual Editions in 2012. It was nominated for the Design Museum's 2013 Designs of the Year awards and acquired by the Art Institute of Chicago for its permanent collection. A collaborative monograph with artist Philippe Parreno, Conversation, was published by the Serralves Museum in 2017. He has also engaged in cross-disciplinary projects exploring the relationship between urbanism, architecture, and contemporary fiction.

Thirlwell wrote the short film Everyday Performance Artists (2016) for Channel 4's Random Acts, directed by Polly Stenham and featuring the voice of Shia LaBeouf, with Gemma Chan, James Norton, and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett. In 2018, he wrote and directed the film Utopia, starring Lily Cole, Lily McMenamy, and Babirye Bukilwa.

He contributes regularly to publications such as The New York Review of Books, London Review of Books, The New York Times, The Times Literary Supplement, and The Guardian. In May 2015, he was named London editor of The Paris Review.

In June 2018, Thirlwell was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature under its "40 Under 40" initiative.

Awards and honours

Bibliography

Novels

  • Politics (2003) ISBN 978-0-224-07119-2
  • The Escape (2009) ISBN 978-0-224-08691-2
  • Kapow! (2012) ISBN 978-0-956-56925-7
  • Lurid & Cute (2015) ISBN 978-0-224-09941-7
  • The Future Future (2023) ISBN 978-1-787-33440-3

Non-fiction and essays

As editor

References

  1. ↑ "American Academy of Arts and Letters - Literature Awards Press Release". Archived from the original on 15 March 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  2. 1 2 Stein, Lorin (20 May 2015). "New on the Masthead: Susannah Hunnewell and Adam Thirlwell". The Paris Review.
  3. ↑ "Adam Thirlwell – Samuel Fischer Guest Professor". Freie Universität Berlin. Retrieved 2 November 2026.
  4. ↑ "Metaphysical Club | Domus Academy". Archived from the original on 28 March 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  5. ↑ "Politics by Adam Thirlwell | Neel Mukherjee". {{cite web}}: |url= suppressed (help)CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  6. ↑ Churchwell, Sarah (8 August 2009). "The Escape by Adam Thirlwell". The Guardian.
  7. ↑ "Lurid & Cute by Adam Thirlwell review". Financial Times. 16 January 2015.
  8. ↑ O’Connell, Mark (3 August 2023). "The Future Future by Adam Thirlwell review – the historical novel, subverted". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  9. ↑ "The wild ride of The Future Future". The Times Literary Supplement. Retrieved 2 November 2026.
  10. ↑ Eder, Richard (18 June 2008). "A Portrait of the Critic as a Delirious Young Man". The New York Times.
  11. ↑ "McSweeney's Issue 42".
  12. ↑ "Translating the Untranslatable: An Interview with Adam Thirlwell". Asymptote Journal. Retrieved 2 November 2026.
  13. ↑ "How do We Achieve a Global Conversation Without Entering a Pre-Babel World? | Frieze". 22 July 2019.
  14. ↑ "Visual Editions : Kapow!". Archived from the original on 9 April 2012.
  15. ↑ "Beazley Designs of the Year Overview".
  16. ↑ "Visual Editions : Museum Moment". Archived from the original on 6 March 2013.
  17. ↑ "Philippe Parreno: A Time Coloured Space".
  18. ↑ "Arquitectura y narrativa contemporánea". ArchDaily. Retrieved 2 November 2026.
  19. ↑ "Talent line-up announced for new series of Random Acts | Channel 4".
  20. ↑ "Tank Magazine".
  21. ↑ "Contributors: Adam Thirlwell". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved 2 November 2026.
  22. ↑ "Contributors: Adam Thirlwell". London Review of Books. Retrieved 2 November 2026.
  23. ↑ Flood, Alison (28 June 2018). "Royal Society of Literature admits 40 new fellows to address historical biases". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  24. ↑ "Past winners of the Betty Trask Prize and Awards". Society of Authors. Retrieved 2 November 2026.
  25. ↑ "Encore". Archived from the original on 24 December 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  26. ↑ "Orwell Prizes 2024 shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 11 June 2024. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  27. ↑ "Penguin – The Future Future". Retrieved 3 August 2023.