Guy Mankowski

Guy Mankowski (born 6 January 1983) is an English writer. He was educated at St John's College, Portsmouth and Ampleforth College. He read Applied Psychology at Durham University and gained a Masters in Psychology at Newcastle University. He then trained as a psychologist at The Royal Hospital in London . He was singer in a band called Alba Nova, where he was described as having 'vocals similar to Billy Corgan.'

His first novel, 'The Intimates', was a Recommended Title for New Writing North’s 2011 Read Regional Campaign. It was described by author Abigail Tarttelin as a 'measured, literary piece of work as hauntingly evocative of its setting and characters as Marilynne Robinson's Pulitzer Prize winner Housekeeping'. Culture Magazine were more critical, and called it 'unusually stylised for contemporary fiction'. Mankowski's 'breakthrough' second novel,Letters from Yelena, was described by New Books Magazine as having 'shades of The Red Shoes and The Black Swan'.

The novel was given Arts Council funding, allowing Mankowski to be one of a few English people granted access to the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in St. Petersburg for research purposes. The choreographer Dora Frankel created a dance based on the book. An excerpt of the novel was used as GCSE training material by Osiris Educational. His third novel, How I Left The National Grid, was written as part of his PhD. Whilst researching for it, Mankowski interviewed musicians such as Jehnny Beth from post-punk band Savages. It has been speculated that the novel he was researching was inspired by missing Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richey Edwards. Of the novel, The Huffington Post said, 'Mankowski captures brilliantly the psychology of 'fan obsession'. Those of us who marvelled at The Secret History or A Passage to India are sure to find it equally enthralling'. The novelist Andrew Crumey commented 'Already recognised as a major rising talent, Mankowski here establishes himself as a significant voice in British fiction'. In the 2015 textbook ‘Creative Writing: A NAWE Handbook For Teachers’ a chapter on 'The Writing Journal' describes how Mankowski used notebooks to develop the background of the novel.

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