The Writers of Wales Database

HAWES, JAMES

Fiction writer. After graduating from Hertford College, Oxford, and working as an English teacher and an archaeologist, he studied for a PhD on Nietzsche and Kafka at University College London. He then lectured in Ireland between 1989 and 1991 before teaching German at the University of Swansea. He is the author of four thrillers, the second of which, Rancid Aluminium, was made into a film. His novel, White Powder, Green Light is a satire on the Soho film industry, partly inspired by his experiences during the making of the film version of Rancid Aluminium. The BBC has commissioned Andrew Davies to re-work Speak for England (Jonathan Cape, 2005) for television. He has written seven novels in total and lives and works in Cardiff.

Reviews:
With respect to White Merc with Fins (Jonathan Cape, 1996)

”…A major debut novel of the year. Highly recommended…”
Library Journal

”…From first-time author Hawes, one of the most endearingly – yet still deftly sincere – novels to come out of Britain since Martin Amis’ The Rachel Papers. Hawes has leapt right into a comic league all his own. Good to the last drop…”
Kirkus Reviews


With respect to Speak for England (Jonathan Cape, 2005)

”…We have the British to thank for the TV reality show, so its only fitting that they can do a brilliant parody of the bloody thing as well. We Yanks will find it great fun…”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

”…James Hawes has matured into a wonderful satirist…a comic novelist of considerable status…”
The Guardian


With respect to Why You Should Read Kafka Before You Waste Your Life (St. Martin’s Press, 2008)

”…A magnificent tour de force, Illuminating, irreverent, iconoclastic. Brilliant!…”
Dr Peter Thompson, Director of the Centre for Ernst Bloch Studies



Selected Publications:
White Merc with Fins (Jonathan Cape, 1996)
Rancid Aluminium (Jonathan Cape, 1997)
Dead Long Enough (Jonathan Cape, 2000)
White Powder, Green Light (Jonathan Cape, 2002)
Speak for England (Jonathan Cape, 2005)
My Little Armalite (Jonathan Cape, 2008)
Excavating Kafka (Quercus, 2008)
Why You Should Read Kafka Before You Waste Your Life (St. Martin’s Press, 2008)

You can contact James through his publishers, Jonathan Cape on: 0207 840 8400