Jenn Ashworth Explained

Birth Place:Preston, Lancashire, England
Occupation:Short story writer, novelist, professor
Language:English
Nationality:British
Alma Mater:Cambridge University, Manchester Centre for New Writing
Notableworks:A Kind of Intimacy, Cold Light, The Friday Gospels, Fell

Jenn Ashworth is an English writer born in 1982 in Preston, Lancashire.[1] In June 2018 Ashworth was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in its "40 Under 40" initiative.[2]

Education

At the age of 11 Ashworth informed her parents that she did not want to go to school, in a behaviour commonly called school refusal. At 13 she was sent to pupil referral unit Larches House which she enjoyed attending; but her placement there ended early after Ashworth was told she would only be allowed to go for one term, and she declined to carry on attending.[3] She eventually returned to mainstream school and after completing her A-Levels, studied English literature at Newnham College, Cambridge,[4] followed by an MA in creative writing at Manchester University's Centre for New Writing in 2006.[5]

Career

Ashworth started her career as a librarian, working in Oxford University's Bodleian Library and then in the public library sector, specialising in reader development and writing industries.[4] From 2008 to 2010 she worked as a prison librarian in Lancashire, based in a male category B prison. It was during this time that she started her second novel, Cold Light, writing it in her car during her lunch breaks.[6] Ashworth then became a freelance writer but continued her interest in writing development by setting up the Lancashire Writing Hub[4] and other projects in the north west such as The Writing Smithy; a literary consultancy which she ran with the poet Sarah Hymas.[7] She also held the post of Research Fellow at the University of Manchester and in 2011 began lecturing at Lancaster University's Department of English and creative writing.[4] In March 2011 she was featured as one of the BBC Culture Show's Best 12 New Novelists.[8]

Writing

Early novels

Two early novels by Ashworth remain unpublished. One was written by her at the age of 17, while another was lost as a result of a computer theft in 2004.[9] However, an extract from this lost novel was the winner of the 2003 Quiller-Couch Prize for Creative Writing at Cambridge University.

A Kind of Intimacy

Ashworth has written both short stories and longer works. Her first novel A Kind of Intimacy, was developed during her time studying creative writing at Manchester University and was published in February 2009 by Arcadia.[10] It tells the story of Annie, a lonely woman failing to come to grips with reality, unable to relate to others and full of self-deception.[11] The story contains strong elements of both comedy and tragedy which ultimately culminates in violence.[12] The novel won a Betty Trask Award from The Society of Authors in 2010.[13]

Cold Light

Ashworth's 2011 novel Cold Light aims, according to her own account, to be "dark and funny and odd".[9] The novel tells the story of three teenage girls, one of whom has died with her boyfriend in suspicious circumstances. The novel is set on the tenth anniversary of the death, when a memorial summerhouse is built and another body is found. Once again Ashworth's writing explores the dark side of human emotions with reviewer Anita Sethi writing in The Independent that "Its insidious and unsettling power resides in the tension created by opposites. The tenderness and delicacy of the 14-year-old girl is juxtaposed with a capacity for great brutality."[11]

The Friday Gospels

In 2013, a third novel, The Friday Gospels, was published, this time focusing on a Lancastrian family, welcoming their son home from a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).[14] Ashworth was herself brought up as member of the LDS Church, but left the church in her teens.[15]

Curious Tales

Ashworth founded the publishing writing and art collective, Curious Tales, in 2013.

Fell

A fourth novel, Fell, was published by Sceptre in 2016. The Guardian described it as a "dark, compelling tale" where the "past and present mingle."[16]

Notes Made While Falling

Published by Goldsmiths Press, November 2019, it has been described as a "genre-bending memoir and a cultural study of traumatized and sickened selves in fiction and film."[17]

Ghosted

A fifth novel, Ghosted, was issued in the summer of 2021.[18]

Works

Short Stories

Novels

Radio commissions

Newspaper Articles

Book Contributions

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Issue 3 contributors : Jenn Ashworth . The Manchester Review . 8 May 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111005092233/http://www.themanchesterreview.co.uk/contributors.php?issue=3 . 5 October 2011 .
  2. Web site: Royal Society of Literature admits 40 new fellows to address historical biases. Flood. Alison. 2018-06-28. The Guardian. en. 2018-07-03.
  3. News: Ashworth . Jenn . 13 January 2012 . Why I Refused to go to School . The Guardian.
  4. Web site: Lancaster University: English and Creative Writing – Jenn Ashworth . 28 March 2015.
  5. Web site: The University of Manchester: Jenn Ashworth's "comic gift" – MA alumna's rave review . 28 March 2015.
  6. Web site: Corrigan . Julie-Ann . Glow Magazine: Search for Perfection – Interview with author Jenn Ashworth . 28 March 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150411004500/http://www.glowmagazine.me/search-perfection-interview-author-jenn-ashworth/ . 11 April 2015 .
  7. Web site: NAWE: The Writing Smithy . 28 March 2015.
  8. Web site: 1 March 2011 . BBC Press Office: The Culture Show reveals 12 of the best new British novelists.
  9. Web site: 29 March 2009 . WriteWords: Jenn Ashworth Interview . 8 May 2010.
  10. Web site: The University of Manchester: Centre for New Writing – Jenn Ashworth . 28 March 2015.
  11. Web site: Sethi. Anita. 7 May 2009. The Independent: A Kind of Intimacy by Jenn Ashworth . . 28 March 2015.
  12. News: Stevie . Davies . Review: A Kind of Intimacy by Jenn Ashworth . The Guardian . 28 March 2009 . 8 May 2010 . London.
  13. Web site: The Society of Authors: The Betty Trask Prizes and Awards – Past Winners . 28 March 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110722223137/http://www.societyofauthors.org/betty-trask-past-winners . 22 July 2011 . dead .
  14. Book: Ashworth, Jenn. The Friday Gospels. Sceptre. .
  15. News: The Friday Gospels by Jenn Ashworth – review . London . The Guardian . Stevie . Davies . 18 January 2013.
  16. Web site: Fell by Jenn Ashworth review – healings and hauntings. . 30 July 2016.
  17. Web site: Notes Made While Falling - Jenn Ashworth. February 2016 .
  18. News: Ghosted by Jenn Ashworth, review — the case of a disappearing husband. Nicol. Patricia.