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Naomi Alderman |
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Naomi Alderman was born in 1974 and was brought up in the Orthodox Jewish community in Hendon, London, where she now lives. She is a graduate of the UEA creative writing course and has published short fiction in a number of anthologies. Disobedience is her first novel.
Naomi Alderman won the Orange Award for New Writers in 2006 and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award in 2007.
Will the printed word endure?
Yes. The printed book is the best medium ever invented for conveying that quantity of information in a convenient form. Electronic data transmission is great for needs at the ends of the spectrum: searching very large quantities of data or reading very short pieces of writing. But for a “human-sized” work, a novel, a biography or a textbook, printed books have so many advantages: they are ultimately portable; they don’t run out of batteries, you don’t need a special device to read them with. Where I can see electronic books taking over is in “tool”-type books: atlases, dictionaries, encyclopaedias. Books which you’re not supposed to read in a linear way, for which a search function is extremely helpful.
Which newspaper do you read?
I vary randomly between the big four broadsheets, but generally get most of my actual news information from the radio. I love the way that Radio 4 burbles on in the background, while I’m cooking or tidying up, and then I suddenly find I know more than I did before about the lives of the Ancient Persians or the economy of St Helena.
Who/What is your biggest influence?
So many people have had an influence on me: my artistic mother, my fearlessly controversial father and my opera-singer brother have all taught me about the importance of passion, of following what you believe in without worrying about what other people might think of you. That’s probably the most valuable lesson I’ve ever learned. That and the importance of continuing to fight the out-of-fashion-at-the-moment feminist fight, which I learned from my staunchly feminist secondary school and from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a show I admire beyond measure.
What books are you reading at the moment?
Tokyo Cancelled by Rana Dasgupta; dazzling, endlessly inventive stories. Les Murailles de Samaris: haunting French cyberpunk graphic novel – my French isn’t really good enough to understand it, but the pictures help. Julie & Julia: the story of one woman’s quest to cook all the recipes in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cookery in a single year.
What books did you read as a child?
I read vast amounts as a child, but my favourites were fantasy: The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper, Joan Aiken’s short stories, Margaret Storey’s Timothy and Two Witches books, Elizabeth Goudge’s Linnets & Valerians and The Little White Horse, piles of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks (spent a very happy family holiday in France at age 11 mapping out the whole of Deathtrap Dungeon). And, because of my Orthodox Jewish background I was reading the Bible in Hebrew by the time I was 7 or 8, which is the best possible kind of literary grounding.
Which literary character would you most like to meet?
Clovis, from Saki’s stories, or Dirk Gently from the Douglas Adams books. I long to sit and drink champagne in the private garden of some gentleman’s club with Clovis while he tells me outrageous stories of life among the upper classes. Dirk Gently is the same sort of character: someone who moves in unusual circles and knows more than he’s telling.
Which authors do you most admire?
Too many to name. I like writers who show me something new, and who understand the importance of a good story.
Neil Gaiman for his breadth of imagination and of knowledge, his understanding of plot and of the nature of story – Brief Lives, Season of Mists and Stardust are all works of genius.
Ovid, with whom I fell in love when I was 16 and who’s never lost his appeal – anyone who can make you laugh out loud despite having been dead for 2,000 years is worth reading.
Saki, who I could well believe was the reincarnation of Ovid. The Unrest Cure is, in my opinion, the funniest story in the English language. Every word works, every line gets a laugh. I love to read it out loud to people who haven’t heard it before.
Jorge Luis Borges; his short stories are spare, but intricate – I still find new things every time I go back to him.
Ali Smith – her stories are so inventive, and so full of energy and wisdom.
HG Wells and John Wyndham – good old British science fiction, talking about ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events.
CP Snow – for his simplicity of style, his graceful structure, the way he draws out the drama of small events.
Elizabeth Knox – a writer who trusts her readers to be intelligent, who isn’t afraid to leave out the connective tissue in her stories, or to tackle the big themes. The Vintner’s Luck is a lyrical, heart-breaking book about God and the meaning of human life which isn’t ashamed to say so head-on. I re-read it at least once a year.
Where/When do you do most of your writing?
I write on my laptop, either at my dining table or in bed, depending on how lazy I’m feeling. I write every day, and usually start as soon as I get up, wrapped up in my dressing gown; if I don’t work then, I can end up putting it off all day, and desperately trying to write something at midnight!
