Ali Smith was born in Inverness in 1962. She is the author of Spring, Winter, Autumn, Public library and other stories, How to be both, Shire, Artful, There but for the, The first person and other stories, Girl Meets Boy, The Accidental, The whole story and other stories, Hotel World, Other stories and other stories, Like and Free Love. Hotel World was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Orange Prize. The Accidental was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Orange Prize. How to be both won the Bailey''s Prize, the Goldsmiths Prize and the Costa Novel of the Year Award, and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Autumn was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2017 and Winter was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize 2018. Ali Smith lives in Cambridge.>
SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2017 SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER 'In a country apparently divided against itself, a writer such as Smith is more valuable than a whole parliament of politicians' Financial Times 'Undoubtedly Smith at her best. Puckish, yet elegant; angry, but comforting' The Times 'A beautiful, poignant symphony of memories, dreams and transient realities ... The first post-Brexit novel' Guardian A breathtakingly inventive new novel from the Man Booker-shortlisted and Baileys Prize-winning author of How to be both Daniel is a century old. Elisabeth, born in 1984, has her eye on the future. The United Kingdom is in pieces, divided by a historic once-in-a-generation summer. Love is won, love is lost. Hope is hand in hand with hopelessness. The seasons roll round, as ever . . . 'Terrific, extraordinary, playful... There is an awful lot to lift the soul' Daily Mail 'Bold and brilliant' Observer
From the bestselling author of Autumn and Winter , as well as the Baileys Prize-winning How to be both , comes the next installment in the remarkable, once-in-a-generation masterpiece, the Seasonal Quartet What unites Katherine Mansfield, Charlie Chaplin, Shakespeare, Rilke, Beethoven, Brexit, the present, the past, the north, the south, the east, the west, a man mourning lost times, a woman trapped in modern times? Spring. The great connective. With an eye to the migrancy of story over time, and riffing on Pericles, one of Shakespeare's most resistant and rollicking works, Ali Smith tells the impossible tale of an impossible time. In a time of walls and lockdown Smith opens the door. The time we're living in is changing nature. Will it change the nature of story? Hope springs eternal. Praise for the Seasonal Quartet: 'Transcendental writing about art, death, political lies, and all the dimensions of love . It's a case not so much of reading between the lines as of being blinded by the light between the lines - in a good way' Deborah Levy on Autumn 'The novel of the year is obviously Autumn , which managed the miracle of making at least a kind of sense out of post-Brexit Britain' Olivia Laing, Observer on Autumn 'Ali Smith is flat-out brilliant, and she's on fire these days... Combining brainy playfulness with depth, topicality with timelessness, and complexity with accessibility while delivering an impassioned defence of human decency and art' NPR on Winter 'Rank[s] among the most original, consoling and inspiring of the artistic responses to 'this mad and bitter mess' of the present' Financial Times on Winter 'A novel of great ferocity, tenderness and generosity of spirit that you feel Dickens would have recognised... Smith is engaged in an extended process of mythologizing the present states of Britain... Luminously beautiful' Observer on Winter
BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Times, Guardian, Observer, Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard, New York Times . . . 'Capacious, surprising, generous . . . A book with Christmas at its heart' Guardian 'Dazzling. Grief and pain are transfigured by luminous moments of humour, insight and connection . . . Even in the bleak midwinter, Smith is evergreen' Daily Telegraph 'Graceful, mischievous, joyful . . . Infused with some much-needed humour, happiness and hope' Independent 'A novel of great ferocity, tenderness and generosity of spirit . . . Luminously beautiful' Observer From the Baileys Prize-winning, Man Booker-shortlisted author of Autumn and How to be both . . . The unmissable second novel in Ali Smith's acclaimed 'Seasonal' quartet -- a Christmas story like no other Winter? Bleak. Frosty wind, earth as iron, water as stone, so the old song goes. The shortest days, the longest nights. The trees are bare and shivering. The summer's leaves? Dead litter. The world shrinks; the sap sinks. But winter makes things visible. And if there's ice, there'll be fire. In Ali Smith's Winter , lifeforce matches up to the toughest of the seasons. In this second novel in her acclaimed Seasonal cycle, the follow-up to her sensational Autumn, Smith's shape-shifting quartet of novels casts a merry eye over a bleak post-truth era with a story rooted in history, memory and warmth, its taproot deep in the evergreens: art, love, laughter. It's the season that teaches us survival. Here comes Winter.
Discover the unforgettable finale to Ali Smith''s dazzling literary tour-de-forcebr>br>In the present, Sacha knows the world''s in trouble. Her brother Robert just is trouble. Their mother and father are having trouble. Meanwhile the world''s in meltdown - and the real meltdown hasn''t even started yet. In the past, a lovely summer. A different brother and sister know they''re living on borrowed time. br>br>This is a story about people on the brink of change. They''re family, but they think they''re strangers. So: where does family begin? And what do people who think they''ve got nothing in common have in common?br>br>Summer.br>br>''Smith''s seasonal quartet of novels is a bold and brilliant experiment'' Independentbr>br>''The novel''s hopeful message about the healing power of friendship ensures the quartet ends on a feel-good note'' Sunday Times>
The unmissable finale to Ali Smith''s dazzling literary tour de force: the Seasonal quartet concludes in 2020 with SummerIn the present, Sacha knows the world''s in trouble. Her brother Robert just is trouble. Their mother and father are having trouble.Meanwhile the world''s in meltdown - and the real meltdown hasn''t even started yet. In the past, a lovely summer. A different brother and sister know they''re living on borrowed time. This is a story about people on the brink of change. They''re family, but they think they''re strangers. So: where does family begin? And what do people who think they''ve got nothing in common have in common?Summer.PRAISE FOR SEASONAL: ''The novel of the year is obviously Autumn'' Observer on Autumn ''Masterful... Winter is utterly original'' New York Times Book Review on Winter''Luminous, generous, hope-filled... A dazzling hymn to hope. Ali Smith is lighting us a path out of the nightmarish now'' Observer on Spring''Smith''s seasonal quartet of novels is a bold and brilliant experiment'' Independent>
Panning in on the Norfolk holiday home of the Smart family one hot summer, this novel is about the ways that seemingly chance encounters irrevocably transform our understanding of ourselves, which is also an exploration of the nature of truth, and the role of fate.
H. G. Wells' revolutionary human rights manifesto is reissued by Penguin with a new introduction by fellow novelist and human rights campaigner Ali Smith 'Penguin and Pelican Specials are books of topical importance published within as short a time as possible from receipt of the manuscript. Some are reprints of famous books brought up-to-date, but usually they are entirely new books published for the first time.' H. G. Wells wrote The Rights of Man in 1940, partly in response to the ongoing war with Germany. The fearlessly progressive ideas he set out were instrumental in the creation of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the EU's European Convention on Human Rights and the UK's Human Rights Act. When first published, this manifesto was an urgently topical reaction to a global miscarriage of justice. It was intended to stimulate debate and make a clear statement of mankind's immutable responsibilities to itself. Seventy-five years have passed and once again we face a humanitarian crisis. In the UK our human rights are under threat in ways that they never have been before and overseas peoples are being displaced from their homelands in their millions. The international community must act decisively, cooperatively and fast. The Rights of Man is not an 'entirely new book' - but it is a book of topical importance and it has been published, now as before, in as short a time as possible, in order to react to the sudden and urgent need. With a new introduction by award-winning novelist and human rights campaigner Ali Smith, Penguin reissues one of the most important humanitarian texts of the twentieth century in the hope that it will continue to stimulate debate and remind our leaders - and each other - of the essential priorities and responsibilities of mankind.
