Bio
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Chris Cleave is 38. He lives in London with his wife and three children. His debut novel Incendiary won a 2006 Somerset Maugham Award, was shortlisted for the 2006 Commonwealth Writers Prize, and won the United States Book-of-the-Month Club’s First Fiction award 2005. His second novel is titled Little Bee in Canada and the US, where it is a New York Times #1 bestseller. It is titled The Other Hand in the UK, where it is a Sunday Times bestseller. It was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Awards. Read reviews here. Chris Cleave has been a barman, a long-distance sailor and teacher of marine navigation [read a short story I wrote about there here], an internet pioneer and a journalist. |
Why I write
“Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard work: there is no new road into the future: but we go round, or scramble over the obstacles. We’ve got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.” - D.H. Lawrence |
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Entries (RSS)
Now that I’ve read both Little Bee and Incendiary, I am off to find The Other Hand. Please keep writing—although please don’t churn out trash in an effort to do so! Both of these books were so meaningful and it is wonderful to stumble onto an author’s work with such integrity and depth. I look forward to any new work you produce. What a fabulous gift you have!
Mr. Cleave,
Discovering a new author is akin to making a new friend- and I am pleased to have found you. Your prose is wonderfully engaging and your command of voice is truly artful. I was mesmerized by Little Bee and cannot wait to purchase Incendiary. Little Bee will no doubt be on our book club’s 2012 slate. Yours is a rare talent and one I look forward to enjoying for years to come. Thank you for writing…please don’t stop!
There is nothing I can say that has not been said before in the previous comments. Little Bee just left me without words but full of emotions. I wish I had the ability to write like you to give words to these emotions. Since I don`t I now have to go and ride my bike. So many things we just take for granted…
Thank you
I want to say “Nice to meet you” ….
I’ve just finished “little bee” . It’s wonderful and effective…Im waiting your new book..We forget the other’s needs, hopes,lifes…( We : people who live in a safely world. The other’s : people who wants to live a safely world ) loves from Turkey
Dear Chris
I just want to thank you for Little Bee … I can’t remember a novel that has given me so much pleasure in its writing (I find myself reading a phrase or sentence over and over again just to savour the words and the ideas), and that has affected me so much emotionally and intellectually.
I could not put it down, nor did I want to …. I am almost finished and am getting sad at that prospect !
I don’t know how you can manage to write from a female perspective … it is amazing.
You’ve moved me, touched me, saddened me and opened my eyes to so much. Thank you.
By the way, I am originally from Iraq and visit there regularly for work, and listen to so many stories. I really hope that one day someone could articulate the experiences in as beautiful and sensitive way as you have done.
Gratefully yours
Dina
I am a visual artist (photographer) and found ‘The Other Hand’ to be one of the most “visual” books I have read recently. Thank you for the experience.
I like your writing style,it seems basic but it had so powerful emotions.Thanks for Little Bee.
distant friend,
it’s been some time now since i read your two books-quite an insufficient term it seems to refer to them-and it already seems a lifetime ago…there are so many of us out there who long for yet another piece of your gift.do not be too long please.
thank you so for showing me a whole new world.
chris
Kære Cleave
wauv – hvilken fantastisk bog! The other hand was translated beautifully into Danish and I was thrilled to read it in two days of this year’s holiday.
It will constitute the gift for many future birthdays I will go to.
Thank you.
/Mai
I knew the book (The Other Hand) was special by the time I first saw it. You gave us no clue about what happens inside, but that makes it so tempting instead!
This book is a complete package. I love it since the first sentence, and it’s so hard to put it down.
You’re now on the list of my favourite author, Mr. Cleave! I’ll make sure to read Incendiary soon.
I devoured Incendiary and Little Bee and I am hooked. I have now read everything on your site that you have written. I am a 34 year old mom from the U.S. I am married with 6 children and with the little time I have I have decided to go back to school for business but my true passion lies in the arts painting, drawing, photography, and writing. I am writing an author presentation for my college Creative Writing class (which leaves little room for being creative) on yoinku. I saw your book Little Bee on sale and thought I’d give it a go. I want people to read your books I think they are written so freely. I find that when I try to write I think to much about what others will think of what I have written and it stunts me. Did you go to school for writing? Do you have any advice for people that want to write? I think you are witty and inspiring and that you write things people don’t want to admit are real which is why I love your books! It’s the honesty that you have. Thank you so much for what you have given to the literary world! I look forward to reading more of your books/columns/anything and everything!
Hi Amie – thanks for your very kind words. As a parent of three children myself, I’m impressed that you find time to read with six! In answer to your questions, I didn’t go to writing school but I do read widely and I should think I absorbed some technique that way. My advice for people who want to write is first of all to think of yourself as a storyteller, rather than a capital-W Writer or a capital-N Novelist. If you imagine that you are telling your story to a dozen people around a campfire, and that they will lose interest and wander off if you become too self-indulgent, then it tends to focus your mind on pacing your story right. I play all kinds of tricks with time and narrative perspective in my books, but I hopefully get away with it because the backbone of my work is a story, rather than a style. I think my second piece of advice is to care about your story to the point where you would still be writing it even if no one was paying you. If you care about it that much, then you won’t worry about following literary conventions or trends. Readers are not the same as TV viewers – they are braver and more adventurous – they are quite capable of understanding what you write, and running with it, even if conventional wisdom says they aren’t. So there’s no problem with challenging conventions and mores in your writing, and with producing work that is provocative and polemical, so long as you adhere to rule number one, which is to make sure that you’re telling a real, original story. And I think my third piece of advice is not to listen to my advice. I mean who am I? There is a winning answer that the great W Somerset Maugham gave when he was asked about being a novelist. He said: “There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” Good luck with your writing.
Chris,
Great advice for any writer. I picked up Little Bee many months ago, and was hooked from the very first line. You have one hell of a way with words. I wrote about and recommended Little Bee on my blog…http://bit.ly/rhZKHZ
As a writer of mostly non-fiction (essays and feature articles), I struggle with fiction. As much as I’d love to write it, it’s a difficult genre for me. But, I am going to take a step back and take your advice…and try just telling a story.
Little Bee is a perfect example of why I can’t read electronic books…I need to hold the hard copy in my hand, turn the pages, and underline passages that affect me. My copy of Little Bee is filled with lead ; ) Would you be willing to sign it for me?
Can’t wait to read more from you.
All the best,
Beth
Hi Beth, of course I’d be honored to sign your copy. I will be doing a great many events in the US next year, so if you can make it to any of them it would be great to meet you!
Hello Chris,
I recently read “Little Bee” while living and working as a human rights lawyer in Tanzania, and I enjoyed it immensely, slowly plugging away through it amidst various power outages, sweaty nights, and moments of homesickness. Thank you for the book, congratulations, and best of luck with your future works.
Roman Kotovych
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Hi Roman – thank you. Very happy you liked the book. Kudos to you for your human rights work! Best wishes – Chris
Hello, Mr.Cleave,
I belong to a book club through my daughters’ school and we are currently reading your book, “Little Bee”. I am really enjoying it.
I was reading on the train recently and a gentleman struck up a conversation with me about the book. He also mentioned that he knew you. When he told me how closely you live, I thought how wonderful it would be to have you join us at our next meeting (Oct 4) when we will be discussing you novel. The book club is made up of about a dozen women with various backgrounds and experiences – a very intelligent, interesting group of ladies. I do realize that it is last minute but we would be honored! And we are so close! Thank you for your consideration…
Hi Sylvie, I’d be honoured to meet your book club, seeing as it’s local. Thanks for the invitation! I’ll be in touch by email.
Hello Chris,
I just read Little Bee and Incendiary in a weeks time. Amazing reads. They both went very deep for me. Your books make me think and care and widen my world. They made me want to look around and see who can I help. Or take the time to be present with someone. I also felt a lot of gratitude for my life. Yes, and i too appreciated how well you could write from the female perspective. I’ve never seen the movie Incendiary and i look forward to that.
Thank you and congratulations on your success.
Leslie Hull
Leslie – thank you very much. I hope you’ll enjoy the movie if you get to see it. Little Bee is being filmed too, and I will put news about that on this site as soon as I have any.
Hi Chris,
We met briefly this summer at your mother-in-laws house (you were busy clearing the ivy). I convinced my book club to read Little Bee back home in California, and sure am glad we did. I just finished the book and thoroughly enjoyed it, though with a twinge of relief that it was fiction (unlike “What is the What”, which sometimes I wish had actually been fiction).
Please say hello to your lovely wife from me, and to your shinger* boys from my son Quincy.
Noémie
* from the verb to shing, onomatopoeia invented by Quincy as referring to the sound of a sword/shinger, but mostly used to refer to your sons in response to their ongoing interest in the summer of 2011.
Hi Noémie, it’s great to hear from you! I did enjoy meeting you in the summer, and our kids still talk about Quincy and reenact their epic sword battles. Thanks for reading the book – glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for persuading the club to read it too! Till next summer I hope. Love to you and your shinger family.
Hi Chris:
I am reviewing Little Bee for my book Club this Wednesday (Oct. 19). I have greatly enjoyed all the information and links on your website along with the many interviewes on You Tube. (I especially liked the Milwaukee interview since this is where I live.) I do have one question. Several years ago there was mention that Nicole Kidman was going to do a film version of Little Bee. Can you tell me what the status of this project is? Are you involved? (I know my book club will ask.) Many thanks for being so accessible — it has made my job reviewing so much better. Looking forward to reading Gold.
Hi Wendy – thank you for your kind message. You’re fortunate to live in Milwaukee! I found it to be one of the most interesting and welcoming communities I’ve visited. Regarding your question about the film, I’m not involved in the process at all so I’m afraid I can’t give any updates on it. I’ve been writing ‘Gold’ while BBC Films in conjunction with Pretty Pictures have been dealing with the film as per this article. Many thanks to you and your book club for being interested in my work.
Chris:
Hopefully when you do another book tour for Gold you can get back to Milwaukee in the SUMMER. There are many wonderful things when you can actually see our lake.) And again, many thanks for this website. I have so much more background. (I even have a neighbor who is not in my book club but called to discuss what I thought happened in the ending. I can now share you comments from other sections of this site.) An interesting small accedote on how I “found” your book. I went to a local bookseller here right before I flew overseas on a trip this spring. I told her I wanted (and I do recall my words) “a compelling read.” She handed me your book.
Best of luck.
Thanks Wendy! If you happen to recall the name of the bookseller & the book store, it would be great if you could let me know so I can drop her a line. I live or die by the support of booksellers & I’m very grateful when one recommends my books. Thanks!
I read Little Bee this summer and could not put it down. One of the most original books I have read in a long time! I selected Incendiary for my book club and we are meeting next week. Not quite finished with reading the book yet but I am going to be the reviewer. Where do I start? What inspired you to write this book? Was it a culmination from your many experiences as a journalist? I must say I am not really sure how I should start with this book review, perhaps starting with why you selected the title and give examples of this types of actions and behaviour throughout the book. An thoughts from you would be most appreciated. Thank you.
Hi Chris,
I recently read ‘the other hand’, ho man, it was fantastic. It was indeed a job well done and I cant wait to read the rest of your book.
I just finished recorded my days efforts and read your pep talk. WOW. Very inspirational. Thank you.
Hi,
I’ve spent the day reading ‘the other hand’ from start to finish and have been truly affected by the story and the excellent characterisation. I just wanted to say thank you for sparking an interest in the fates of asylum seekers and giving them a voice – I have always felt this to be an inhumane process and now am completely convinced. Your book has also made me want to know more about Nigeria and the injustices you write about – there are always small steps we can take to try to make things better for others and raising awareness is so important. Will be sticking ‘Incendiary’ on my wish list! Best wishes and more power to your pen, Lesley.
Dear Mr. Cleave,
I wrote to you a year ago telling you that I was going to present and discuss “Little Bee” in our book circle. Reasons beyond my control made me postpone the discussion from April to December.
I would like you to know that what attracted my attention to the book was its cover. Ada Vardi, a graphic artist, designed it and was, most probably, influence by JD Salinger’s instructions (no image on cover – just the book title and author’s name. He specifically asked that his name be in a font not greater than the book’s title).
I attached a picture and hope the picture got through.
I assume you are familiar with Ali Mazrui’s book “The Africa Condition: A Political Diagnosis”(The Reith Lectures. London, Heinemann 1980). Mazrui wrote in his book that towards the end of the century the diplomatic power triumvirate in Africa will be composed of Nigeria, Zaire and South Africa under black control. He also predicted Nigeria will become the largest country in Euro – Africa and perhaps even with some nuclear ability.
The United Nations Population Division projection for the year 2100 expects India, which is likely to surpass China as the world’s largest country by 2030, to reach more than 1.55 billion people in 2100. Here’s the list of the world’s largest countries in 2100…
India – 1,557,468,000
China – 944,380,000
Nigeria – 756,007,000
Little Bee’s self-sacrifice in Charley’s rescue on the Nigerian beach echoed Boaz’s words to Ruth:
And he said, Blessed be thou of the LORD, my daughter: for thou hast shewed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou followedst not young men, whether poor or rich.
(Ruth 3,10)
I could not avoid comparing this Sarah’s self-sacrifice, the decision about which was made within minutes, with the heroism of the Righteous Gentiles who saved Jews during the Holocaust who placed themselves in danger and continuous ponderings every day over the months and years.
You may be interested to learn that there are several words in Hebrew with contrasting meanings (like cleave), for example: “mazor” means both a disease and a cure.
“Bee” in Hebrew is Dvorah or Devorah (Deborah in the Bible) and “Kolech”, a Jewish feminist organization, chose the name “Devorah” for its programme of girls’ empowerment in the religious education. I think Little Bee would like it.
I opened the evening with two short musical pieces:
Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumble Bee” in honour of Little Bee and Elgar & Benson’s “Land Of Hope And Glory” in honour (?) of England.
Some of our friends thought you endowed Little Bee with resourcefulness, psychological insight and linguistic ability far beyond what may be expected of a 16 year old who grew up in Africa. On the other hand a colleague who worked in a school of foreign workers’ children assured us that she found incredible level of intelligence among those children who really come from poor homes.
Thank you for the literary experience.
I wish you all the best for 2012
Avishai Lubitch
Hi chris – like so many others, i have been wholly moved by the story of Little Bee, in a way that i haven’t by any story for a long while. Thank you for the telling of it. And for the fully empathy for all the players. Please keep writing. Luci
Thank you Luci – I will, I promise!
Hi, Chris,
Thank you so much for Little Bee and Incendiary. I read Little Bee last summer and enjoyed every page of it. I then went out and bought Incendiary,and again I enjoyed every page.
I have just read your comments and words of advice that you gave to Amie Pierce last September about writting, and have to say that you have given me a boost to continue with my own writting. I was worrying about what people would think of my stories, wether they would enjoy them or not. Now having read your article I will stop worrying so much and just continue to write.
When people ask me what do you do for a living I reply by saying I’m a teacher of English ( I now live and work in Paris) I’m also a writer. I shall stop saying I’m a writer and just say I’m a story teller. Besides I am yet to get published, so I don’t feel that it is right to call ones self a writer. However you can because you are truely a great writer and story teller.
I hope we shall meet up if you come to Paris then hopefully you will sign my copies of your books.
I look forward to reading your next book
Kind regards,
Richard.
you will sign my copies of your books.
Dear Chris, first of all I would like to thank you so very much for such a wonderful books. I came across Incendiary without knowing what the book was about but there was something about the title that catch my attention and I loooove it so much I found myself telling everyone about it and the same it’s happening with Little Bee I have started reading it but I enjoy the way you write so much that I’m reading it very slowly so I can enjoy it for much longer. Im only on page 33 but I’ve just been on thephone with my mum and I have been telling her a bit about the book because I wanted her to read it and here comes my question Have your books been traslated to Spanish? and if so Do you now the titles? thsi information will really help me as I haven’t been able to find them, my mum and I enjoy reading very much and we recomend each other books and I would really love it if she could read them both
Thank you very much
Daniela
Hi Daniela – thank you for your kind comments. Yes, Little Bee has been translated into Spanish by the excellent Maeva publishing company – it is called “Con el corazón en la mano”. Incendiary is published as Incendiario. Hope your mum will enjoy them!
Can I ask how you write such wonderful descriptive metaphors? An instance is the likening of Little Bee to a pound coin. Do you do metaphor exercises? Think of something at random and try to connect it? I read the Other Hand and was awed at your imagery, and the emotions you manage to evoke. I cried three times reading it.
And now I’ve just read your short story too, and could cry again, as nearing the end of my own book, I realise how colourless it seems comparatively. In some ways, your writing has made me feel mediocre, but in others it has inspired me to go over my own again and to add more Van Goghian (if there is such a word) tints.
Hi Anne – thanks for your kind comments about use of metaphor. I don’t use any particular exercises or techniques to get to them (I just have a kind of short-circuited brain) and I honestly wouldn’t worry if your own work uses metaphor in a different way. I think I have a style of writing that allows an occasional exuberant metaphor, but if you write in a different style then possibly that kind of thing would be unnecessary, or even overblown. If you are able to tell the story in an elegant way, without embellishment, then that has its own kind of beauty. Actually I think your painterly metaphor is a very good one in that respect. Van Gogh’s style permitted some brushwork that would be out of place on a Whistler, for example – and maybe you’re more like the latter artist. (And incidentally, the one I prefer).
I would, personally, call Chris Cleave 21st century Oscar Wilde. So far, Wilde was my favorite writer until I read Little Bee and could not believe that somebody can write with the same wittiness and sense of understanding the life that surround us. Writing with such a fluency and soul, in such easy-readable and acceptable way! I was totally surprised that in today’s time a book like Little Bee can be found. I’ve read Incendiary and am onto The other hand. Have one question for you. I do not understand why are you writing from female’s perspective and where did you get such an insight in hidden corners of female’s personality?
Hi Suzana – you are very kind and I love Wilde’s work but I wouldn’t put myself up there with him yet. Maybe with a few more years’ hard work. But maybe not even then. He had a unique combination of wit and wisdom. Also, he was damned handsome.