British author (born 1996)
Madeleine Mortimer (born 1996) is an English novelist.
Early life
Mortimer is from West London and attended Latymer Upper School.[1] She studied English Literature at the University of Bristol, and has worked in marketing and as a screenwriter.[2] Her mother was the writer and filmmaker Katie Pearson.[3]
Writing
Mortimer has described her first novel, Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies, as "an elegy to my mum and to our relationship".[4] Mortimer's mother died of cancer in 2010 and the book focuses on a fictional woman called Lia who has a "shapeshifting cancer inside her body. Moving between Lia’s past and present, the book is a look at memory, mother-daughter relationships, and coming to terms with death".[4] Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies won the 2022 Desmond Elliott Prize, which is awarded for a debut novel published in the UK or Ireland.[4] It was also shortlisted for the 2022 Goldsmiths Prize[5] and longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize.[6]
Selected publications
- Mortimer, Maddie (2022). Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies. London: Picador. ISBN 9781529069365.
Awards
References