The Guardian: Seasonal Quartet: Ali Smith and New European Ensemble review – words and music connect
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Ali Smith
Ali Smith CBE FRSL is a Scottish author, playwright, academic and journalist. Sebastian Barry described her in 2016 as "Scotland's Nobel laureate-in-waiting." Smith released two, homophone novels in successive years, Gliff in 2024 followed by Glyph in 2026, which wrangle with contemporary social dilemmas and political topics.
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culture · Scottish author and journalist (born 1962) · writer · playwright · journalist · short story writer · university teacher · also Ali Smith, Smith
Born 1 January 1962 · Q468523
35 published statements · 0 followers
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2026· 3 entries
The Guardian: Glyph by Ali Smith review – bearing witness to the war in Gaza
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The Guardian: Ali Smith: ‘Henry James had me running down the garden path shouting out loud’
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2025· 1 entry
The Guardian: The books quiz of 2025 – set by Mick Herron, Bernardine Evaristo, Ali Smith and more
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2024· 8 entries
The Guardian: Gliff by Ali Smith review – reading the signs of crisis
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The Guardian: Gliff by Ali Smith review – a warning from the near future
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The Guardian: Autumn review – Ali Smith adaptation has humour and charm in spades
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The Guardian: ‘This is what happens when people fight back’: Ali Smith on standing up for justice
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The Guardian: Your holiday reading list: chosen by Zadie Smith, David Nicholls and more
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The Guardian: Ali Smith’s 90s New York punk scene – photo essay
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Followed by Glyph in 2026, which wrangle with contemporary social dilemmas and political topics
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Was awarded the Bodley Medal for contributions to literature, the highest honour of the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
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2023· 1 entry
The Guardian: On my radar: Ali Smith’s cultural highlights
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2022· 1 entry
Awarded Austrian State Prize for European Literature (2022).
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2021· 1 entry
Awarded Orwell Prize for Political Fiction (2021).
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2020· 1 entry
Awarded Europese Literatuurprijs for Lente (2020).
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2016· 3 entries
Smith's story "The Detainee's Tale" was published by Comma Press in Refugee Tales Volume 1
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As "Scotland's Nobel laureate-in-waiting
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Smith was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of East Anglia
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2015· 1 entry
Awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2015).
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2013· 1 entry
Smith published Artful, a book based on her lectures on European comparative literature delivered the previous year at St Anne's College, Oxford
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2012· 1 entry
Awarded Hawthornden Prize (2012).
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2011· 2 entries
Contributed the short story "Scots Pine (A Valediction Forbidding Mourning)" to Why Willows Weep, an anthology supporting The Woodland Trust
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Wrote a short memoir for The Observer in their "Once upon a life" series
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2009· 1 entry
Donated the short story "Last" (previously published in the Manchester Review online) to Oxfam's Ox-Tales project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors
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2008· 1 entry
Smith produced The Book Lover, a collection of her favourite writing, including pieces from Sylvia Plath, Muriel Spark, Grace Paley, Margaret Atwood, Joseph Roth and Clarice Lispector
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2007· 2 entries
Awarded Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (2007).
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Smith was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
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2005· 1 entry
Awarded Costa Book Awards (2005).
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1995· 2 entries
Awarded Saltire Awards (1995).
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Published her first book, Free Love and Other Stories, a collection of 12 short stories which won the Saltire First Book of the Year award and Scottish Arts Council Book Award
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1992· 1 entry
Because she was suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome
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1990· 1 entry
And worked as a lecturer in Scottish, English and American literature at the University of Strathclyde
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1982· 1 entry
And gaining a top first in Senior Honours English in 1984
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1962· 1 entry
Born 1962-01-01.
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