British Authors

As long as it's a book site and a Brit group, it seems a reasonable subject.

We all know the Classic authors, what modern authors from the UK are noteworthy?

Terry Pratchett of course. Actor Kevin McNally is writing a science fiction. Charlton Daines who wrote Jack Dawkins is worthy. Who else?

Blimey! They are innumerable. How modern is modern? Do you mean living?

Just in SF and fantasy (including Young Adult) I'd list, off the top of my head (for starters, including some authors recently dead): Doris Lessing, Iain M. Banks, Philip Pullman, Diana Wynne Jones, Lian Hearn, Philip Reeve, and David Gemell.

The Times published a list of the 50 greatest writers since 1945, out of which (apart from a couple already mentioned) I would highlight as personal choices Rosemary Sutcliff, A. S. Byatt, Mervyn Peake, Roald Dahl, and Iris Murdoch.

For that Times list of 50, see: http://www.publicpoems.com/2008/01/times-books-section-under-editorship-of.html

Iain Banks (doing his non-sci-fi stuff) and the late lamented James Herbert would be two of my favourites. Also love Irvine Welsh, Christopher Brookmyre, Robert Rankin, Colin Bateman and of course the wonderful Stephen Fry (if you've not read Making History then I strongly recommend it.)

And one of America's biggest selling authors is of course from Coventry - Lee Child the author of the Jack Reacher novels.

Alan Garner is responsible for my love of fantasy. Being exposed to his tales of Alderley at an early age set me on that path. Currently, I pretty much love everything I've read by Glen Duncan. Still have another couple on the tbr shelves to get to sometime this year. And for something out of the ordinary there is Jeff Noon.

Alistair reynolds of course too.
Jasper fforde
Colin Dexter Ian Rankin - not a personall favourite, but still well liked.
PD James - in fact there's a vast number of crime writers from the UK.

Gerald Durrell, and Agatha Christie unless that's going back too far?

Nice list jbbarret. 'Living' is as good a criteria as any, my evil plan was to stimulate conversation. :D

Some of these are unfamiliar to me or I haven't read. Personally I have a strong preference for British authors in general (with some notable exceptions), especially with lesser known authors.

As a hard-core SF reader, these are my suggestions:

Brian Aldiss,
J. G. Ballard,
Iain M. Banks,
John Christopher,
Arthur C. Clarke,
Chris Beckett,
M. John Harrison,
Gwyneth Jones,
Ken MacLeod,
Ian McDonald,
Kim Newman,
Alastair Reynolds,
Adam Roberts,
Keith Roberts,
Geoff Ryman,
Brian Stableford,
Ian Watson

We need a Like button...

I was trying to come up with some great living female genre writers, but my favourites are all non English. So all I have is Susanna Clarke & Jo Walton, although she lives in Canada now. So any recs?

By "genre writers", I presume you mean a particular genre (i.e. SF rather than pulp romance)?

Unfortunately, two of the best British female writers in speculative fiction (IMHO) are both recently deceased, and both wrote mainly for the YA audience (Diana Wynne Jones and Jan Mark).

Does the reference to "genre writers" rule out Doris Lessing, British Nobel prizewinning novelist, who is still alive and could not be confined by the label "genre writer"?

Iain Banks is now 'late, lamented'.

Indeed. :(

Yes, with the passing of Tom Sharpe it's been a sad week for British fiction. RIP Iain and Tom.

Bringing this back to a cheerier note, I recently discovered Ronald Frame. He's written all sorts of books and plays, but he came to my attention with his book Havisham. He's won various awards which I find somewhat curious as some of the writing was...odd. I'll try something else of his though. Anyone familiar with him or have any recommendations?

I'm going to claim Michel Faber (though born in Oz he now seems to be a more or less permanent resident of Scotland); Chris Cleave; Sebastian Faulks; Hanif Kureishi; Neil Gaiman; Kazuo Ishiguro (though born in Nagasaki, he has lived here since 1960); Hilary Mantel; Zadie Smith, Ian McEwan; Sarah Waters, Nicola Barker; Fay Weldon; Karen Maitland; Martin Amis; Pat Barker; Sue Townsend; Jasper Fforde etc

(This is a fairly quick list off the top of my head.)

#10

As AlanPoulter mentions
Gwyneth Jones

I could add
Mary Gentle
Justina Robson (although I'm not a fan of the Quantum Gravity series)
Jaine Fenn
Liz Williams

Extend it to fantasy and you get quite a few more
Tanith Lee
Freda Warrington
Juliet E. McKenna
Steph Swainston - although she is no longer a full-time writer (I think).
Sarah Singleton
Kari Sperring (although just two novels so far)

Horror / Supernatural
Sarah Pinborough

There are also plenty of female non-genre writers who flirt with genre from time to time who I could name.

Also apologies to all those I've missed.

There's also Geraldine Harris, though I don't know if she has managed to publish any fiction lately.

#18

Don't think so, and I am not sure if the Seven Citadels series is in print either*. Also it was YA as well which might affect how some people approach it.

* Just checked and you can get it on Kindle (for cheap) but not in print in dead-tree.

>15 dhtabor: - I think Ronald Frame has just been a victim of taste. He started with a bang with Winter Journey, which won the first Betty Trask Award gaining it a lot of publicity. He then produced a few well-received books but got lot lost in the early 1990's when his 'classic' style fell out of fashion. I think he struggled to get a publisher at one point but was quite successful producing plays for Radio 4. One of the oddities about his work is that he always almost writes from a woman's perspective which may alienate potential readers. If you are looking for a novel to read next I would go for Sandmouth People (which is long) or The Lantern Bearers.

Thanks for the recommendation. He has so many it was hard to choose. I did notice that he tends to write from a woman's point of view.

10, if Fantasy genre then Jaq D. Hawkins is a Brit.

Check out almost anything from China Miéville. One of my favourite British authors right now, specialising in what's known as new weird.

Particular favourite of mine from him is Perdido Street Station.