Christopher J. Yates is a British-American fiction writer and the author of two novels, Black Chalk (2013) and Grist Mill Road (2018). Black Chalk was first published in the UK by Harvill Secker in September 2013 and in the US by Picador in August 2015. In December 2015, NPR named Black Chalk one of the best books of the year.[1] Grist Mill Road received a Kirkus Star [2] and praise from The New York Times [3] for a narrative "full of pleasantly unpleasant surprises." On December 8, 2023, Publishers Weekly announced that Hanover Square Press had acquired Yates’ third novel, a follow up to Black Chalk, in a preempt; a summer 2025 publication is planned.[4]
Yates was born in Bromley in London, England on February 4, 1972,[5] and graduated from Wadham College at Oxford University with a law degree in 1993.[6] [7] He currently resides with his wife in New Paltz, NY, and also writes restaurant reviews for the Hudson Valley edition of the Times Union.