Granta Best of Young British Novelists 2013: what happened next?

It’s a practice they’ve repeated every 10 years since, with the fifth incarnation of the list was published in April 2023 and featuring a number of authors who we’ve welcomed to our venues in recent years; Eleanor Catton, Natasha Brown Derek Owuso, and Eley Williams.

In May 2023 we hosted a special event here at the Southbank Centre discussing the latest list and what it means for, and says about, the next generation of British authors. But ahead of that, we also took the opportunity to look back across the past decade at what became of the writers who appeared on the 2013 list. What did they do next? How many of them went on to be shortlisted for major literary prizes? How many won one? And did any of them turn their back on the novel completely?

Well the answers to these, and many more questions about 2013’s 20 Granta listed novelists, can be found, right here.

Naomi Alderman

London-born Naomi Alderman’s literary debut came with 2006’s Disobedience, which won her the Orange Award for New Writers and saw her named Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year, 2007, and included in Waterstones’ 25 Writers for the Future. This was followed with two further novels, The Lessons (2010) and The Liars’ Gospel (2012). Since being included on the 2013 Granta Best of Young British Novelists list, Alderman has published one further novel, but it represents her most successful work to date. Published in 2016, The Power won the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction and was named as one of the 10 Best Books of 2017 by The New York Times. The Power has also been adapted into a ten-part Amazon Prime Video television series which aired in 2023.

Tahmima Anan

Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh and now based in Kilburn, writer Tahmima Anim’s debut, 2007’s A Golden Age won a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for best first book in 2008. Her 2011 follow-up The Good Muslim was longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize and helped secure her place on the 2013 Granta Best of Young British Novelists list. In the years since Anam has published two further novels; The Bones of Grace (2016), the final part of the trilogy which encompassed her first two books, and The Startup Wife (2021) which was shortlisted for the Comedy Women in Print Prize 2022. Beyond the novel Anam also wrote the 2015 O. Henry Award-winning short story Garments, and in 2016 was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Ned Beauman

London’s Ned Beauman has written five novels to date, the most critically successful of which came prior to his appearance on the 2013 Granta Best of Young British Novelists list. His 2010 debut Boxer, Beetle was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Desmond Elliott Prize whilst winning the National Jewish Book Award for debut fiction. This was followed by 2012’s The Teleportation Accident which won both a Somerset Maugham Award and the Ecore Award whilst being longlisted for the Booker Prize. Since 2013 Beauman has seen three further novels published; Glow (2014), Madness Is Better Than Defeat (2017) and Venomous Lumpsucker (2022), whilst contributing literary criticism to titles including The Guardian, The White Review, The London Review of Books, and Cabinet.

Jenni Fagan

Perhaps one of the least well-known names on the 2013 Granta Best of Young British Novelists list, Jenni Fagan’s debut novel, The Panopticon, had been published just the previous year. As well as earning her a place on the list, The Panopticon was also shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Fagan has since published three more novels, The Sunlight Pilgrims (2016), Luckenbooth (2021) and Hex (2022), the former of which saw her proclaimed Scottish Author of the Year at the Sunday Herald’s Culture Awards. The last decade has also seen Fagan publish four books of poetry and begin experimenting with other media including short film and sculpture.

Adam Foulds

At the point of the 2013 Granta Best of Young British Novelists list, Adam Foulds had been hoovering up awards for his first three books. His 2007 debut The Truth About These Strange Times, won a Betty Trask Award and saw Foulds named Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year. The following year’s The Broken Word, a substantial narrative poem, won a Somerset Maugham Award, a Costa Book Award for poetry and was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. And 2009’s The Quickening Maze won the Encore Award and a European Union Prize for Literature whilst also being shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Now based in Canada, Foulds has published two further novels since his Granta list inclusion, 2015’s Walter Scott prize shortlisted In the Wolf’s Mouth, and 2019’s Dream Space, which was longlisted for the Giller Prize.

Xialou Guo

Arguably the most established artist on the 2013 Granta Best of Young British Novelists list, Xialou Guo’s credits at that time already included nine films, two screenplays, one radio play, five novels and multiple collections of essays, screenplays and poetry. Writing in both English and Chinese, Guo’s third novel, A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary For Lovers had been nominated for the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2007. Since appearing on the Granta list Guo has continued to work across multiple mediums, adding three novels and two memoirs to her print portfolio. Of those novels, I Am China (2014) won a Giuseppe Acerbi Prize for Young Readers and was longlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, whilst A Lover’s Discourse (2020) saw Guo longlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize. In between these, her 2017 memoir Nine Continents won the autobiography section of the National Books Critics Circle Award and was shortlisted for both the Costa Book Award and Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize.

Sarah Hall

Sarah Hall’s literary career began with 2002’s Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and Betty Trask Award-winning Haweswater. It is the Carlisle author’s 2004 second novel however, for which she is perhaps best known. The Electric Michelangelo was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the Commonwealth Writers Prize, and France’s Prix Femina Étranger. With her third novel The Carhullan Army winning the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, and her fourth book, How to Paint a Dead Man longlisted for the Booker Prize, it was no surprise when she appeared on the 2013 Granta Best of Young British Novelists list. Since then Hall has written two further novels, The Wolf Border (2015) – shortlisted for The Southbank Sky Arts Awards and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize – and Burntcoat (2021), plus two short story collections, Madame Zero and The Sudden Traveller, each of which featured stories which won Hall the BBC National Short Story Award, making her the only writer to win the award twice.

Steven Hall

Writer Steven Hall’s name regularly appeared on lists of up and coming literary talent in his 30s. As well as featuring on the 2013 Granta Best of Young British Novelists list, he also appeared in Waterstone’s ‘25 Authors for the Future’ in 2007, and The Telegraph’s 2010 list of the 20 best novelists under 40. The main catalyst for Hall’s inclusion had been his debut novel The Raw Shark Texts which won a Somerset Maugham Award in 2008. In the years following his appearance on the Granta list Hall moved away from the page, writing the Nike’s 2014 World Cup film The Last Game, and serving as lead writer on a number of video games including Battlefield I and Battlefield V. In 2021 he returned to the novel with the long-awaited follow-up to The Raw Shark Texts, Maxwell’s Demon.

Joanna Kavenna

Prior to her inclusion on the 2013 Granta Best of Young British Novelists list, Joanna Kavenna had published four books, starting with The Ice Museum (2005), a blend of travelogue, reportage, memoir, and literary essay, that was nominated for the Guardian First Book Award, the Ondaatje Prize, and the Dolman Best Travel Book Award. Her first novel, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize shortlisted Inglorious, was published in 2007 and was followed by the Orange Prize longlisted The Birth of Love (2010), and Come to the Edge (2012). In the years since her list inclusion Kavenna has written two further novels, A Field Guide to Reality (2016) and Zed (2019) and her writing has appeared in publications including The New Yorker, London Review of Books and The New York Times.

Benjamin Markovits

British-American writer and former professional basketball player Benjamin Markovits is the author of 11 novels, six of which had been published prior to his naming on the 2013 Granta Best of Young British Novelists list, including his trilogy on the life of Lord Byron. Markovits’ first work after his Granta listing, You Don’t Have to Live Like This earned him the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction and an Eccles British Library Writer in Residence Award. He currently teaches creative writing at Royal Holloway, University of London and his more recent novels include Christmas in Austin (2019), Home Games (2020) and The Sidekick (2022).

Nadifa Mohammed

The Somali-British novelist Nadifa Mohammed had just one book under her belt at the time of her inclusion on the 2013 Granta Best of Young British Novelists list, but it was a debut novel with a notable impact. Published in 2010, Black Mamba Boy won the Betty Trask Prize, and was shortlisted for multiple other titles, including the Guardian First Book Award, the Dylan Thomas Prize, and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. Mohammed’s second book The Orchard of Lost Souls won a Somerset Maugham Award in 2014, and in the same year the author was included in Africa39’s list of the most promising writers under the age of 40 from Sub-Saharan Africa. Published in 2021, Mohammed’s third novel, The Fortune Men, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and won three awards at the Wales Book of the Year Awards, including the overall Book of the Year title.

Helen Oyeyemi

Born in Nigeria and raised in Lewisham, Helen Oyeyemi wrote her first novel, The Icarus Girl, whilst studying for her A-Levels. Published in 2005, it had been followed by three further novels by the time of Oyeyemi’s inclusion on the 2013 Granta Best of Young British Novelists list; The Opposite House (2007), the Somerset Maugham Award-winning White is for Witching (2009) and Mr. Fox (2011). The year after appearing on the list Oyeyemi published Boy, Snow, Bird which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was included on the best of the year lists of The New York Times, The Washington Post, and NPR. Her subsequent short story collection What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours won the PEN Open Book Award in 2016, and she has since written two further novels; Gingerbread (2019) and Peaces (2021).

Ross Raisin

West Yorkshire writer Ross Raisin’s inclusion on the 2013 list was the latest in a slew of awards and acknowledgements that followed the publication of his first two novels. His 2008 debut, God’s Own Country, was a Betty Trask Award winner, as well as being shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, Dylan Thomas Prize, John Llwellyn Rhys Prize and the Portico Prize for Literature. Raisin also won the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award ahead of the publication of his second novel, Waterline. Since being included on the 2013 Granta Best of Young British Novelists list , Raisin has published a further novel, 2017’s A Natural, and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2018.

Sunjeev Sahota

Sunjeev Sahota was working in marketing for an insurance company when his debut novel Ours are the Streets was published in 2011. Since his inclusion on the 2013 Granta Best of Young British Novelists list his career has gone from strength to strength with each of his subsequent two novels receiving much critical acclaim. Published in 2015, Sahota’s second book, The Year of the Runaways was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and won a European Union Prize for Literature, the Southbank Sky Arts Award and the Encore Award. This was followed in 2021 by China Room, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize.

Taiye Selasi

Taiye Selasi’s inclusion in the 2013 Granta Best of Young British Novelists list came at a time when the British-American writer and photographer was arguably at the peak of her global fame. Having first come to promise in 2005 when her seminal essay ‘Bye-Bye, Babar (Or: What is an Afropolitan?)’ was published by The LIP Magazine, 2013 saw the publication of her eagerly-awaited, and subsequently much-acclaimed, debut novel, Ghana Must Go. Since her list inclusion Selasi has published two short stories, Aliens of Extraordinary Ability (2014), and Brunhilda in Love (2016) and has further diversified into other mediums, working with Hank Levine on the 2016 documentary EXODUS, and serving as executive producer on AFRIPEDIA, a six-part documentary about African creatives. In 2020 Selasi was Artist in Residence at New York University’s Centre for the Study of Africa and the African Diaspora.

Kamila Shamsie

Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Kamila Shamsie moved to London in 2007, by which point she had already published four books including her Prime Minister’s Award-winning 1998 debut In the City by the Sea, and 2005’s Patras Bokhari Award-winning Broken Verses. In 2009 she added Burnt Shadows to this list; the novel was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction and won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. Since her inclusion on the 2013 Granta Best of Young British Novelists list, Shamsie has released three further novels, A God In Every Stone (2014), Home Fire (2017) which won the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and Best of Friends (2022), and is now  a professor of creative writing at the University of Manchester.

Zadie Smith

In 2013 Zadie Smith was making her second appearance on the Granta Best of Young British Novelists list. Having burst onto the literary scene with multi-award-winning White Teeth in 2000, and followed it up with 2003’s The Autograph Man, she was included on the 2003 list. Between then and 2013 Smith published two further novels, the Booker Prize shortlisted On Beauty and NW (2012), which would later be adapted into a television series. Since her 2013 inclusion Smith has released the Booker Prize longlisted novel Swing Time (2016) and the 2019 short story collection Grand Union, and has also debuted as a playwright with 2021’s The Wife of Willesden. Smith’s sixth novel, The Fraud, will be released later this year.

David Szalay

Born in Montreal, to a Hungarian mother and Canadian father, Szalay was raised in London and now lives in Budapest. Prior to his inclusion on the 2013 Granta Best of Young British Novelists list, David Szalay had written three novels; Spring (2012) and The Innocent (2010) having followed his Betty Trask Prize-winning debut, London and the South-East. In 2016 his fourth novel, All That Man Is, a collection of nine intertwined stories, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won that year’s Gordon Burn Prize. That year also saw Szalay included in The Telegraph’s list of the top 20 British writers under 40. His fifth novel, Turbulence, which originated in a series of 15 minute programs for BBC Radio 4, was released in 2019.

Adam Thirlwell

Like Smith, 2013 marked Adam Thirlwell’s second inclusion on the Granta Best of Young British Novelists list. His inclusion on 2003’s list had coincided with the release of his debut novel, the Betty Trask Award-winning Politics. This was followed by 2008’s Somerset Maugham Award-winner Miss Herbet, The Escape (2009) and Kapow!, an experimental book with unfolding pages which was nominated for The Design Museum’s Design of the Year Award in 2013. Since featuring on the 2013 list, Thirlwell has released one further novel, Lurid & Cute, which won the 2015 E.M. Forster Award, and has also written for the screen with the 2016 short film Everyday Performance Artists, and 2018’s Utopia, which he wrote and directed.

Evie Wyld

London’s Evie Wyld’s name was a regular fixture on literary lists at the start of the 2010s. Her appearance on the 2013 Granta Best of Young British Novelists list followed inclusions in The Telegraph’s 2010 list of the top 20 British writers under 40, and the BBC Culture Show’s 12 Best New British Writers in 2011. Following up her 2009 debut After the Fire, A Still Small Voice, which won both a Betty Trask Award and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, Wyld’s hugely successful second novel, the multi-award-winning All The Birds, Singing was published in 2013. She has since written one further novel – The Bass Rock was published in 2020, earning Wyld the Stella Prize and the Barbara Jeffries Award – and runs Review, a small independent bookshop in Peckham.