Monica Ali

Sara Upstone (Kingston University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of York), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

Born 20 Oct 1967
Activity 2003-ongoing

Places

Born in Bangladesh
Active in United Kingdom

Activities

Primary

Novelist

Resources

Ali's Works

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Born in Bangladesh in 1967 to a Bangladeshi father and an English mother, Monica Ali came with her parents to Britain at the age of three in 1970, as a result of the civil war. Settling in Bolton, Greater Manchester, Ali attended Bolton School, where she was academically successful, and she went on to Wadham College, Oxford, where she studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics. Despite the similarities often drawn, such privileged beginnings have little in common with the characters of Ali’s fiction.

When Monica Ali was named one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists in 2003, an accolade given only every ten years, and in each case to only twenty new writers, it announced an important new literary voice. Previous inclusions on the 1983 and 1993 lists included Salman Rushdie, Ian

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2752 words

Citation: Upstone, Sara. "Monica Ali". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 August 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11828, accessed 27 November 2024.]