David Mitchell (author): Difference between revisions

| name = David Mitchell

| image = David Mitchell by Kubik.JPG

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| alt =

| caption = Mitchell in 2006

| pseudonym =

| birth_name = David Stephen Mitchell

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1969|1|12|df=yes}}

| birth_place = [[Southport]], Lancashire, England

| death_date =

| death_place =

| occupation = Novelist, television writer, screenwriter

| citizenship =

| education = [[University of Kent]]

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| subjectmovement =

| partnerchildren = 2

| childrenrelatives = 2

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He has written nine novels, two of which, ''[[number9dream]]'' (2001) and ''[[Cloud Atlas (novel)|Cloud Atlas]]'' (2004), were shortlisted for the [[Booker Prize]]. He has also written articles for several newspapers, most notably for ''[[The Guardian]]'',. andHe has translated books about [[autism]] from [[Japanese language|Japanese]] to [[English language|English]].

Mitchell was born in [[Southport]] in Lancashire (now [[Merseyside]]), England, and raised in [[Malvern, Worcestershire]]. He was educated at [[Hanley Castle High School]]. and atAt the [[University of Kent]], where he obtainedearned a degree in English and [[American Literature]], followed by an [[Master of Arts|M.A.]] in [[Comparative literature|Comparative Literature]].

Mitchell lived in [[Sicily]] for a year,. thenHe moved to [[Hiroshima]], Japan, where he taught English to technical students for eight years, before returning to England,. whereThere he could live on his earnings as a writer and support his pregnant wife.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6034/the-art-of-fiction-no-204-david-mitchell|journal=The Paris Review|title=David Mitchell, The Art of Fiction No. 204|year=2010|volume=Summer 2010|issue=193|last1=Begley|first1=Interviewed by Adam}}</ref>

Mitchell's first novel, ''[[Ghostwritten (novel)|Ghostwritten]]'' (1999), takes place in locations ranging from [[Okinawa, Japan|Okinawa]] in Japan to [[Mongolia]] to pre-Millennialmillennial New York City, as nine narrators tell stories that interlock and intersect. It won the [[John Llewellyn Rhys Prize]] (for best work of British literature written by an author under 35) and was shortlisted for the [[Guardian First Book Award]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/nov/06/guardianfirstbookaward1999.gurardianfirstbookaward1|work=The Guardian|title=Readers pick top Guardian books|date=6 November 1999|location=London|first=Fiachra|last=Gibbons}}</ref> His two subsequent novels, ''[[number9dream]]'' (2001) and ''[[Cloud Atlas (novel)|Cloud Atlas]]'' (2004), were both favourably received and shortlisted for the [[Booker prize|Man Booker Prize]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.themanbookerprize.com/prize/archive|title=Man Booker Prize Archive|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106011610/http://www.themanbookerprize.com/prize/archive|archive-date=6 January 2012}}</ref> In 2003, he was selected as one of [[Granta]]'s Best of Young British Novelists.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.granta.com/Archive/81/The-January-Man|author=Mitchell, D.|title=Best of Young British Novelists 2003: The January Man|issue=81|journal=Granta|year=2003|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120907202458/http://www.granta.com/Archive/81/The-January-Man|archive-date=7 September 2012}}</ref> In 2007, Mitchell was listed among [[Time (magazine)|''Time'']] magazine's 100 Most Influential People in The World.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/the-transformative-experience-of-writing-for-sense8|title=The Transformative Experience of Writing for "Sense8"|date=1 May 2010|work=The New Yorker|access-date=27 September 2017}}</ref>

Mitchell's sixth novel, ''[[The Bone Clocks]]'', was published on 2 Septemberin 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thebookseller.com/news/new-david-mitchell-novel-out-next-autumn.html|title=New David Mitchell novel out next autumn|publisher=[[The Bookseller]]|date=26 November 2013|access-date=28 November 2013}}</ref> In an interview in ''[[The Spectator]]'', Mitchell said that the novel has "dollops of the fantastic in it", and is about "stuff between life and death".<ref name="blogs.spectator.co.uk">{{cite news|url=http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/mark-greaves/2013/01/interview-with-a-writer-david-mitchell/|work=The Spectator|title=Interview with a writer: David Mitchell|date=25 January 2013|access-date=27 January 2013|archive-date=3 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203105436/http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/mark-greaves/2013/01/interview-with-a-writer-david-mitchell/|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''The Bone Clocks'' was longlisted for the [[2014 Man Booker Prize]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/30/david-mitchell-buries-latest-manuscript-for-a-hundred-years|title=David Mitchell buries latest manuscript for a hundred years|last=Flood|first=Alison|date=30 May 2016|website=The Guardian|access-date=2018-01-21}}</ref>

Mitchell was the second author to contribute to the [[Future Library project]]. andHe delivered his book [[From Me Flows What You Call Time (novella)|''From Me Flows What You Call Time'']] on 28 May 2016.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.tor.com/2016/05/31/david-mitchell-future-library-project-2114/|title=David Mitchell is the Second Author to Join the Future Library Project of 2114|date=31 May 2016|work=Tor.com|access-date=2018-01-21|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/episode-288-fort-mcmurray-s-fridges-future-library-fake-weddings-north-korea-forced-labour-more-1.3614379/the-future-library-project-in-100-years-this-forest-will-be-harvested-to-print-david-mitchell-s-latest-work-1.3614409|title=The Future Library Project: In 100 years, this forest will be harvested to print David Mitchell's latest work|work=CBC Radio|access-date=2018-01-21|language=en}}</ref>

''[[Utopia Avenue]]'', Mitchell's ninth novel, was published by Hodder & Stoughton onin 142020, Julyduring 2020the first year of the [[Covid 19 pandemic]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BONKDwAAQBAJ|title=Utopia Avenue|last1=Mitchell|first1=David|date=2 June 2020|publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |isbn=9781444799446}}</ref> ''Utopia Avenue'' tells the “unexpurgated"unexpurgated story”story" of a British band of the same name, who emerged from London’sLondon's psychedelic scene in 1967 and was “fronted"fronted by folk singer Elf Holloway, guitar demigod Jasper de Zoet and blues bassist Dean Moss”, said publisher SceptreMoss".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Flood|first=Alison|date=2019-09-26|title=David Mitchell announces Utopia Avenue, his first novel in five years|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/26/david-mitchell-announces-utopia-avenue-his-first-novel-in-five-years|access-date=2020-06-24|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

Following the release of the [[Cloud Atlas (film)|the 2012 film adaptation]] of ''Cloud Atlas'', Mitchell commencedbegan work as a screenwriter alongsidewith [[Lana Wachowski]] (one of ''Cloud Atlas''{{'}} three directors).

In 2015, Mitchell contributed plotting and scripted scenes for the second season of the [[Netflix]] series ''[[Sense8]]'' by [[the Wachowskis]],. whoThey had adapted the novel for thea screenTV series, and together with [[Aleksandar Hemon]], they wrote the series finale.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://ew.com/tv/2017/09/27/sense8-production-begins-netflix-special/|title='Sense8': Production begins on Netflix special|work=EW.com|access-date=2018-01-21|language=en}}</ref> Mitchell had signed a contract to write season three of the series, beforebut Netflix's cancellation ofcancelled the show.<ref>{{Cite newsmagazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/the-transformative-experience-of-writing-for-sense8|title=The Transformative Experience of Writing for "Sense8"|last=Hemon|first=Aleksandar|date=27 September 2017|workmagazine=The New Yorker|access-date=2017-09-27|issn=0028-792X}}</ref>

In August 2019, it was announced that Mitchell would continue his collaboration with Lana Wachowski and Hemon to write the screenplay for ''[[The Matrix Resurrections]]'' with them.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://variety.com/2019/film/news/matrix-4-keanu-reeves-carrie-anne-moss-lana-wachowski-1203307955/|title='Matrix 4' Officially a Go With Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss and Lana Wachowski|last=Kroll|first=Justin|date=20 August 2019|work=Variety|access-date=2019-08-20}}</ref>

After another stint in Japan, Mitchell and his wife, Keiko Yoshida, live in [[Ardfield]], County Cork, Ireland, {{as of|2018|lc=yes}}. They have two children.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Olson |first1=Danel |title=David Mitchell |journal=Weird Fiction Review |date=Winter 2018 |issue=9 |pages=384–404 }}</ref> In an essay for [[Random House]], Mitchell wrote:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.randomhouse.com/boldtype/1100/mitchell/essay.html|title=Bold Type: Essay by David Mitchell|publisher=Randomhouse.com|access-date=28 August 2013}}</ref> "
{{blockquote|I knew I wanted to be a writer since I was a kid, but until I came to Japan to live in 1994 I was too easily distracted to do much about it. I would probably have become a writer wherever I lived, but would I have become the same writer if I'd spent the last six years in London, or [[Cape Town]], or [[Moose Jaw]], on an oil rig or in the circus? This is my answer to myself."}}

Mitchell has a [[stammer]].<!--stammering is the term used by Mitchell himself--><ref name="prospect180">[http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2011/02/david-mitchell-stammering-kings-speech/ "Lost for words"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120104175240/http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2011/02/david-mitchell-stammering-kings-speech/ |date=4 January 2012 }}, David Mitchell, ''Prospect'' magazine, 23 February 2011, Issue #No. 180</ref> andHe considersbelieves that the film ''[[The King's Speech]]'' (2010) to beis one of the most accurate portrayals of whatthat it'sexperience likefor toan be a stammerer:individual.<ref name="prospect180"/> He said, "I'd probably still be avoiding the subject today had I not outed myself by writing a semi-autobiographical novel, ''Black Swan Green'', narrated by a stammering 13-year-old."<ref name="prospect180"/> Mitchell is also a patron of the [[British Stammering Association]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://stammering.org/bsgrevisited.html|title=Black Swan Green revisited|journal=Speaking Out|publisher=British Stammering Association|date=Spring 2011|access-date=30 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111016083015/http://stammering.org/bsgrevisited.html|archive-date=16 October 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Mitchell's son is autistic. In 2013, heMitchell and his wife Keiko Yoshida translated a book into English that was written by [[Naoki Higashida]], a 13-year-old Japanese autistic boy, titled ''[[The Reason I Jump: One Boy's Voice from the Silence of Autism]]''.<ref name="TimesReview">{{cite news|last=Tisdale|first=Sallie|title=Voice of the Voiceless|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/25/books/review/the-reason-i-jump-by-naoki-higashida.html|access-date=1 September 2013|newspaper=New York Times|date=23 August 2013}}</ref> Higashida is said to have learned to communicate using the techniques of [[facilitated communication]] and [[rapid prompting method]].{{Citation needed|reason=Is there a source for Higashida's use of these exact methods AND for the statement these techniques are discredited? It seems credible, but needs sources. Deleted assertion that methods were discredited, as there is no source. |date=August 2022}}

In 2017, Mitchell and his wife translated thea follow-upsecond book also writtenattributed byto Higashida, ''[[Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8|Fall Down 7 Times Get Up 8: A Young Man's Voice from the Silence of Autism]]''.<ref name="macleans">{{cite web| url=http://www.macleans.ca/society/david-mitchell-on-translating-and-learning-from-naoki-higashida/| title=David Mitchell on translating—and learning from—Naoki Higashida| first=Mike| last=Doherty| date=13 July 2017| publisher=[[Maclean's]]}}</ref>

'''Opera [[Librettolibretto]]s''' for opera

*"Wake" opera in 4four acts (May 2010) by [[Klaas de Vries (composer)]], [[electronics]] by [[René Uijlenhoet]] for [[Nationale Reisopera]]

*"Sunken Garden"(12 April 2013), Filmfilm Operaopera for [[English National Opera]] at [[Barbican Theatre]]

*"On historical fiction", ''The Daily Telegraph'', 2010

*"Lost for words", ''Prospect Magazine'', 2011

*"The Earthgod and the Fox", 2012 (translation of a short story by Kenji Miyazawa; translation printed in ''McSweeney's'' Issue 42, 2012)

*''[[The Reason I Jump: One Boy's Voice from the Silence of Autism]]'', 2013 (translation of book by [[Naoki Higashida]]'s work)

*"[[Before the Dawn (Kate Bush album)|Before the Dawn]]", 2014 (with [[Kate Bush]] co-wrote two spoken scenes during ''The Ninth Wave'' sequence in this live production).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p026gnq5|title=Author David Mitchell on working with 'hero' Kate Bush|date=11 September 2014 }}</ref>

*"Amor Vincit Omnia", 2018; ''[[Sense8]]'' episode<ref name="amor">{{cite web |url=http://www.napolike.it/sense8-a-napoli-svelato-il-titolo-della-puntata-finale/ |title= Sense8 a Napoli, svelato il titolo dell'attesa puntata finale girata in città |date=2 October 2017 |author=Fabiana Bianchi |work=Napolike |access-date=7 October 2017 |language=it |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171007143307/http://www.napolike.it/sense8-a-napoli-svelato-il-titolo-della-puntata-finale/ |archive-date=7 October 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="amor2">{{cite webmagazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/the-transformative-experience-of-writing-for-sense8/ |title=The Transformative Experience of Writing for "Sense8" |author=Aleksandar Hemon |date=27 September 2017 |workmagazine=[[The New Yorker]] |publisher=[[Condé Nast]] |access-date=27 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170927182759/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/the-transformative-experience-of-writing-for-sense8/ |archive-date=27 September 2017 |url-status=live|author-link=Aleksandar Hemon }}</ref>

* {{cite journal |author=Bentley, Nick |date=2018 |title=Trailing Postmodernism : David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas, Zadie Smith’sSmith's NW, and the Metamodern |journal=English Studies |issuevolume=99: |issue=7 |pages=723–43 |doi=10.1080/0013838X.2018.1510611 |s2cid=165906081 |url=https://eprints.keele.ac.uk/4519/1/Trailing%20Postmodernism%20English%20Studies.docx }}

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20121027170343/http://themanbookerprize.com/people/david-mitchell David Mitchell's profile] at the official [[Man Booker Prize]] site

*{{isfdbISFDB name|28382}}

*[https://www.literaturfestival.com/festival/programm/2021/ref%202021/the-art-of-scriptwriting?searchterm=the+art+of+script "The Art of Scriptwriting: David Mitchell on Matrix 4"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211117143423/https://www.literaturfestival.com/festival/programm/2021/ref%202021/the-art-of-scriptwriting?searchterm=the+art+of+script |date=17 November 2021 }}, at the 21. ''[[Berlin International Literature Festival|international literaturefestivalliterature berlinfestival, Berlin]]'', 10 September 2021

[[Category:PostmodernBritish postmodern writers]]

[[Category:People with speech impedimentdisorders]]