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Nicola Barker

ニコラ・バーカー

Nicola Barker

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1966-03-30 （Ely, Cambridgeshire, England）
Nationality
British
Languages
English
Residence History
South Africa (childhood) → United Kingdom

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Short story writer
Active Years
1994-2025

Awards

PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award
1993
Work: Love Your Enemies
Organization: PEN/Macmillan
Result: co-winner
David Higham Prize for Fiction
1993
Work: Love Your Enemies
Organization: David Higham
Result: winner
John Llewellyn Rhys Prize
1996
Work: Heading Inland
Organization: John Llewellyn Rhys Prize
Result: winner
International Dublin Literary Award
2000
Work: Wide Open
Organization: International Dublin Literary Award
Result: winner
Hawthornden Prize
2008
Work: Darkmans
Organization: Hawthornden Prize
Result: winner
Man Booker Prize
2004
Work: Clear: A Transparent Novel
Organization: Man Booker Prize
Result: longlist
Man Booker Prize
2007
Work: Darkmans
Organization: Man Booker Prize
Result: shortlist
Man Booker Prize
2012
Work: The Yips
Organization: Man Booker Prize
Result: longlist
Goldsmiths Prize
2017
Work: H(a)ppy
Organization: Goldsmiths Prize
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Wide Open

1998 Novel (quirky character-driven)

Set on a remote isle, the novel follows eccentric characters and their interactions, blending dark humor and melancholy typical of Barker's work.

isolationhuman eccentricitycommunity breakdown

Darkmans

2007 Novel (experimental) 838 pages

An expansive novel taking place over a few days; despite a minimal describable plot it explores language, time and the imprint of history on English life.

traces of historyurban memoryeveryday anxiety

Clear: A Transparent Novel

2004 Novel (contemporary)

Set in London against the backdrop of a high-profile fasting performance, the novel examines contemporary oddities and characters' solitude.

media and performanceindividual solitude

The Yips

2012 Novel

A novel featuring Barker's trademark eccentric characters; longlisted for the 2012 Booker Prize.

eccentric charactersabsurdities of life

H(a)ppy

2017 Novel (experimental)

An experimentally structured novel that won the 2017 Goldsmiths Prize.

parody of happinesslinguistic experimentation

Love Your Enemies

1993 Short story collection

A collection of early short stories that garnered awards and recognition in 1993.

strangeness in everyday lifeloneliness of characters

Bibliography

  • Reversed Forecast (1994)
  • Small Holdings (1995)
  • Wide Open (1998)
  • Five Miles from Outer Hope (2000)
  • Behindlings (2002)
  • Clear: A Transparent Novel (2004)
  • Darkmans (2007)
  • Burley Cross Postbox Theft (2010)
  • The Yips (2012)
  • In the Approaches (2014)
  • The Cauliflower (2016)
  • H(a)ppy (2017)
  • I Am Sovereign (2019)
  • TonyInterruptor (2025)
  • Love Your Enemies (1993)
  • Heading Inland (1996)
  • The Three Button Trick: Selected Stories (2001)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
quirky prose with dark humourexperimental and fragmentary narrationdetail-oriented realism
Recurring Motifs
isolated settingseccentric charactersabnormality within the ordinary

Legacy

Nicola Barker is an English writer acclaimed for her quirky humour and experimental narration. Through Booker Prize longlistings/shortlistings and wins such as the Goldsmiths and International Dublin Literary Award, she holds an important place in contemporary English literature.

Quotes

  • "phenomenally good"
    Source: Patrick Ness (review in The Guardian) (2007)

Trivia

  • Spent part of her childhood in South Africa after her parents left England.
  • Wide Open, Behindlings and Darkmans are considered an informal trilogy centered on the Thames Gateway.
  • Won the Goldsmiths Prize in 2017.