Pigeon English

By (author) Stephen Kelman; By (author) Kelman, Stephen
Short description/annotation
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2011 Deeply funny, moving, idiosyncratic and unforgettable, Pigeon English introduces a major new literary talent
Description
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and Guardian First Book Award ''Pigeon English is a book to fall in love with: a funny book, a true book, a shattering book'' The Times ‘Simultaneously accurate and fantastical, this boy''s love letter to the world made me laugh and tremble all the way through. Pigeon English is a triumph'' Emma Donoghue, author of Room Eleven-year-old Harrison Opoku, the second best runner in Year 7, races through his new life in England with his personalised trainers - the Adidas stripes drawn on with marker pen - blissfully unaware of the very real threat around him. Newly arrived from Ghana with his mother and older sister Lydia, Harri absorbs the many strange elements of city life, from the bewildering array of Haribo sweets, to the frightening, fascinating gang of older boys from his school. But his life is changed forever when one of his friends is murdered. As the victim''s nearly new football boots hang in tribute on railings behind fluorescent tape and a police appeal draws only silence, Harri decides to act, unwittingly endangering the fragile web his mother has spun around her family to keep them safe. From Autumn 2015, Stephen Kelman''s deeply funny, moving idiosyncratic and unforgettable novel will be an AQA GCSE English Literature set text.
Review quote
‘Simultaneously accurate and fantastical, this boy''s love letter to the world made me laugh and tremble all the way through. Pigeon English is a triumph''
Review quote
Pigeon English is a book to fall in love with: a funny book, a true book, a shattering book
Review quote
Stephen Kelman''s [first novel] has a powerful story, a pacy plot and engaging characters. It paints a vivid portrait with honesty, sympathy and wit, of a much neglected milieu, and it addresses urgent social questions. It is horrifying, tender and funny ... Brilliant
Review quote
The humour, the resilience, the sheer ebullience of its narrator - a hero for our times - should ensure the book becomes, deservedly, a classic
Biographical note
Stephen Kelman was born in Luton in 1976. After finishing his degree he worked variously as a warehouse operative, a careworker, and in marketing and local government administration. He decided to pursue his writing seriously in 2005, and has completed several feature screenplays since then. Pigeon English is his first novel; he is currently working on his second.
Promotional headline
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2011 Shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award 2011 Pigeon English introduces a major new literary talent
Feature
Reissued in advance of being chosen for the AQA GCSE English syllabus from September 2015
Feature
Acquired in a hotly contested, 12-publisher auction, and with rights sold all over the world, Pigeon English has attracted a great deal of media attention. Stephen Kelman has appeared on Newsnight, BBC Radio 4''s Today Programme, Channel 4 News and BBC2''s Culture Show
Feature
The 2011 Booker Prize Shortlist was the bestselling shortlist in the prize''s history
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A BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime Shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award Shortlisted for the Desmond Elliot Prize A Waterstones'' 11 selection Chosen by the Culture Show as one of the twelve best new novelists