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{{short description|English writer and journalist (born 1961)}}{{Use British English|date=February 2024}}{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}

factoids

HTTP://WWW.DEBRETTS.COM/PEOPLE/BIOGRAPHIES/BROWSE/S/13628/WILLIAM%20WOODARD%20(WILL)+SELF.ASPX, Will Self, Esq Authorised Biography – Debrett’s People of Today, Will Self, Esq Profile, | birth_place = London, England| death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Novelist, journalistUniversity College School, HampsteadChrist’s College, Finchley>Christ’s College, FinchleyExeter College, Oxford(Bachelor of Arts>BA)| period = 1991–present| genre = LiteratureThe Book of Dave Umbrella (novel)>Umbrella

• {{marriage|Kate Chancellor|1989|1997|reason=divorced{edih}
• {{marriage|Deborah Orr|1997|2018|reason=divorced}}

}}| partner = | children = Henry Self>Sir Henry Self (grandfather)Peter Self (father)Jonathan Self (brother)Geoffrey Faber Memorial PrizeAga Khan Prize for FictionBollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize|2008}}will-self.com/}}pos=centerfilename=Will Self BBC Radio4 Open Book 27 Jan 2008 b008s8z4.flacWill Self’s voice}}description={{centerRecorded January 2008) from the BBC Radio 4 programme Open Book}}}}}}William Woodard Self (born 26 September 1961) is an English writer, journalist, political commentator and broadcaster.NEWS,www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/umbrella-by-will-self-8026842.html, The Independent, Matt, Thorne, Umbrella, By Will Self, London, 11 August 2012, NEWS, Dowell, Ben, Will Self in talks to become Radio 4 writer-in-residence,www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jan/18/will-self-radio-4-writer-residence, 18 January 2013, The Guardian, 18 January 2013, London, MAGAZINE, Hamilton, Ben, A Merry Dance: Will Self Takes on Modernism,lareviewofbooks.org/article/a-merry-dance-will-self-takes-on-modernism/#!, Los Angeles Review of Books, He has written 11 novels, five collections of shorter fiction, three novellas and nine collections of non-fiction writing. Self is currently Professor of Modern Thought at Brunel University London, where he teaches psychogeography.WEB, Professor Will Self,www.brunel.ac.uk/people/will-self, His 2002 novel Dorian, an Imitation was longlisted for the Booker Prize, and his 2012 novel Umbrella was shortlisted.WEB,www.brunel.ac.uk/arts/english/staff/will-self, Will Self, His fiction is known for being satirical, grotesque and fantastical, and is predominantly set within his home city of London. His writing often explores mental illness, drug abuse and psychiatry.Self is a regular contributor to publications including The Guardian, Harper’s Magazine, The New York Times and the London Review of Books. He currently writes columns for the New Statesman and The New European. He has been a columnist for the Observer, The Times, and the Evening Standard. His columns for Building Design on the built environment, and for the Independent Magazine on the psychology of place brought him to prominence as a thinker concerned with the politics of urbanism.Self is a regular contributor to British television, initially as a guest on comic panel shows such as Have I Got News for You. In 2002, Self replaced Mark Lamarr on the BBC comedy panel show Shooting Stars WEB, Self, Will, Shooting Stars,will-self.com/2009/01/02/shooting-stars/, 2 January 2009, NEWS, Dowell, Ben, Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer line up new series of Shooting Stars,www.theguardian.com/media/2009/apr/03/vic-reeves-bob-mortimer-shooting-stars-new-series, 19 March 2018, The Guardian, 3 April 2009, for two series, but was himself replaced by comedian Jack Dee when the programme returned in 2008. He has since appeared on current affairs programmes such as Newsnight and Question Time. Self is a contributor to the BBC Radio 4 programme A Point of View,WEB, Self, Will, A Point of View,will-self.com/2017/02/01/a-point-of-view-3/, 19 March 2018, February 2017, to which he contributes radio essays delivered in his familiar “lugubrious tones”.NEWS, Dowell, Ben, Will Self in talks to become Radio 4 writer-in-residence,www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jan/18/will-self-radio-4-writer-residence, 19 March 2018, The Guardian, In 2013, Self took part in discussions about becoming the inaugural BBC Radio 4 Writer-in-Residence, but later withdrew.NEWS, Dowell, Ben, Will Self backs out of talks to be Radio 4’s writer-in-residence,www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-07-22/will-self-backs-out-of-talks-to-be-radio-4s-writer-in-residence/, 19 March 2018, 19 March 2018,www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-07-22/will-self-backs-out-of-talks-to-be-radio-4s-writer-in-residence/," title="web.archive.org/web/20180319214135www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-07-22/will-self-backs-out-of-talks-to-be-radio-4s-writer-in-residence/,">web.archive.org/web/20180319214135www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-07-22/will-self-backs-out-of-talks-to-be-radio-4s-writer-in-residence/, dead,

Early life

Self was born in Charing Cross HospitalNEWS,www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/sep/18/would-that-all-journeys-were-on-foot-writers-on-the-joy-of-walking, ‘Would that all journeys were on foot’: writers on the joy of walking, Guardian Staff, The Guardian, 18 September 2018, www.theguardian.com, and brought up in north London, between the suburbs of East Finchley and Hampstead Garden Suburb.NEWS, Charney, Noah, Will Self: How I Write,www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/01/09/will-self-how-i-write.html, 9 January 2013, The Daily Beast, 9 January 2013, His parents were Peter John Otter Self, Professor of Public Administration at the London School of Economics, and Elaine Rosenbloom, from Queens, New York, who worked as a publisher’s assistant.M. Hunter Hayes Understanding Will Self, p.7NEWS,www.theguardian.com/books/2007/may/09/willself#article_continue, London, The Guardian, Sarah, Kinson, Books, Culture, Will Self (Author), 9 May 2007, BOOK, M. Hunter Hayes, Understanding Will Self,books.google.com/books?id=jRVfQI82hx8C&pg=PA7, 2007, University of South Carolina Press, 978-1-57003-675-0, 7, His paternal grandfather was Sir Albert Henry Self. Self spent a year living in Ithaca in upstate New York.Self’s parents separated when he was nine, and divorced when he was 18.NEWS,www.theguardian.com/books/2008/jun/15/biography.review, London, The Guardian, Will, Self, Biography (Books genre), Books, Culture, 15 June 2008, Despite the intellectual encouragement given by his parents, he was an emotionally confused and self-destructive child, harming himself with cigarette ends and knives before beginning to experiment with drugs.WEB,72.166.46.24/archive/features/00/11/09/WILL_SELF1.html, Living Will, 5 July 2007,72.166.46.24/archive/features/00/11/09/WILL_SELF1.html," title="web.archive.org/web/2007092800361872.166.46.24/archive/features/00/11/09/WILL_SELF1.html,">web.archive.org/web/2007092800361872.166.46.24/archive/features/00/11/09/WILL_SELF1.html, 28 September 2007, dead, Self was a voracious reader from a young age. When he was 10, he developed an interest in works of science fiction such as Frank Herbert’s Dune and the works of J. G. Ballard and Philip K. Dick.WEB, Self, Will, My hero JG Ballard by Will Self,www.theguardian.com/books/2009/nov/14/jg-ballard-hero-will-self, The Guardian, 14 November 2009, WEB, Barker, Nicola, Moorcock, Michael, Roberts, and Adam, The Philip K Dick book I love most…,www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/27/philip-k-dick-best-novels-blade-runner-minority-report, The Observer, 27 August 2017, Into his teenage years, Self claimed to have been “overawed by the canon”, which stifled his ability to express himself. Self’s use of drugs increased in step with his prolific reading. He started smoking cannabis at the age of 12, progressing by way of amphetamines, cocaine and LSD to heroin, which he started injecting at 18.JOURNAL, Finney, Brian, 2001, Will Self’s Transgressive Fictions,muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/27742, Postmodern Culture, 11, 3, 10.1353/pmc.2001.0015, 144272638, 1053-1920, Self struggled with mental health issues during this period, and aged 20 became a hospital outpatient.WEB,www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/will-self, Will Self, John Freedman, 11 April 2014, Interview Magazine, Self attended University College School, an independent school for boys in Hampstead.Have I Got News For You?, Series 13 episode 1 He later attended Christ’s College, Finchley, from where he went to Exeter College, Oxford, reading Philosophy, Politics and Economics and graduated with a third class degree. At Oxford, he was editor of and frequent contributor to an underground left-wing student newspaper called Red Herring/Oxford Strumpet, copies of which are archived in the Bodleian Library.WEB, Search result showing location of Oxford Strumpet in Bodleian Library,solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/permalink/f/89vilt/oxfaleph012331051, Bodleian Library, 9 February 2021,

Career

(File:Willselfauthor.jpg|right|thumb|Self at a 2002 book signing)After graduating from Oxford, Self worked for the Greater London Council, including as a road sweeper, while residing in Brixton.NEWS,www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/you-ask-the-questions-will-self-672941.html, London, The Independent, You ask the questions: Will Self, 6 June 2001, {{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} He pursued a career as a cartoonist for the New Statesman and other publications and as a stand-up comedian. He moved to Gloucester Road around 1985. In 1986 he entered a treatment centre in Weston-super-Mare, where he claimed that his heroin addiction was cured. In 1989, “through a series of accidents”, he “blagged” his way into running a small publishing company.WEB,www.theparisreview.org/blog/2012/08/09/larger-than-life-an-interview-with-will-self/, Larger Than Life: An Interview With Will Self, Jacques Testard, 9 August 2012, The Paris Review, WEB,www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/will-self-is-apple-worthy-of-reverence/#.UuJBvRyQEy4, The Book of Jobs, prospectmagazine.co.uk, The publication of his short story collection The Quantity Theory of Insanity brought him to public attention in 1991. Self was hailed as an original new talent by Salman Rushdie, Doris Lessing, Beryl Bainbridge, A. S. Byatt and Bill Buford. In 1993, he was nominated by Granta magazine as one of the 20 “Best Young British Novelists”.WEB,www.specialistspeakers.com/?p=1670, Will Self, Specialist Speakers Profile, specialistspeakers.com, Conversely, Self’s second book, My Idea of Fun, was “mauled” by the critics.No 242: Will Self The Guardian (1959–2003) London 16 September 1993: A3.Self joined the Observer as a columnist in 1995. He gained negative publicity in 1997 when he was sent to cover the election campaign of John Major and was caught by a rival journalist using heroin on the Prime Minister’s jet; he was fired as a result.NEWS, Wroe, Nicholas, Addicted to transmogrification, The Guardian, 2 June 2001,www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4196343,00.html, 9 February 2007, London, At the time, he argued “I’m a hack who gets hired because I do drugs”.NEWS,www.theguardian.com/books/2008/jun/11/willself, London, The Guardian, Will Self (Author), Books, Culture, 22 July 2008, He joined the Times as a columnist in 1997. In 1999 he left the Times to join the Independent on Sunday, which he left in 2002 for the Evening Standard.He has made many appearances on British television, especially as a panellist on Have I Got News for You and as a regular on Shooting Stars. Since 2008 Self has appeared five times on Question Time. He stopped appearing in Have I Got News for You, stating the show had become a pseudo-panel show. Between 2003 and 2006, he was a regular contributor to the BBC2 television series Grumpy Old Men.NEWS,news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4145681.stm, Why are we so grumpy?, 5 January 2005, news.bbc.co.uk, Since 2009, Self has written two alternating fortnightly columns for the New Statesman. The Madness of Crowds explores social phenomena and group behaviour, and in Real Meals he reviews high street food outlets. For a May 2014 article in The Guardian, he wrote: “the literary novel as an art work and a narrative art form central to our culture is indeed dying before our eyes”, explaining in a July 2014 article that his royalty income had decreased “dramatically” over the previous decade. The July article followed the release of a study of the earnings of British authors that was commissioned by the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society.NEWS, Alison Flood, Authors’ incomes collapse to ‘abject’ levels,www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/08/authors-incomes-collapse-alcs-survey?CMP=twt_gu, 12 July 2014, The Guardian, 8 July 2014, Self is a professor of Modern Thought at Brunel University London. He was appointed in 2012.WEB,www.brunel.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/articles/Will-Self-joins-Brunel-University-as-Professor-of-Contemporary-Thought, Will Self, Brunel University, brunel.ac.uk,

Literary style

(File:Will Self at Humber Mouth 2007.jpg|thumb|right|Self in 2007)Self has given his reason for writing as follows: “I don’t write fiction for people to identify with and I don’t write a picture of the world they can recognise. I write to astonish people.“M. Hunter Hayes Understanding Will Self, p.1 “What excites me is to disturb the reader’s fundamental assumptions. I want to make them feel that certain categories within which they are used to perceiving the world are unstable.“JOURNAL, Finney, Brian, Will Self’s Transgressive Fictions, Postmodern Culture, May 2001, 11, 3, 10.1353/pmc.2001.0015, 144272638, When he was ten, he developed an interest in works of science fiction such as Frank Herbert’s Dune and those of J. G. Ballard and Philip K. Dick. Self admires the work of J. G. Ballard, Alasdair Gray and Martin Amis.WEB, M, Chris, Alasdair Gray: An Introduction,will-self.com/2006/01/12/alisdair-gray-an-introduction-2/, Will Self, 12 January 2006, WEB, McCrum, Robert, Interview: Will Self,www.theguardian.com/books/2002/sep/29/fiction.willself, The Observer, 29 September 2002, He has said that he previously admired William Burroughs but went off him.WEB, Guardian Staff, Will Self,www.theguardian.com/books/2008/jun/11/willself, The Guardian, 22 July 2008, NEWS, Opening up and inside out,www.economist.com/prospero/2012/09/06/opening-up-and-inside-out, The Economist, 6 September 2012, He has cited influences such as Jonathan Swift, Franz Kafka,WEB,thespace.lrb.co.uk/, Kafka’s Wound, 1 September 2019, 11 August 2019,web.archive.org/web/20190811123655/https://thespace.lrb.co.uk/, dead, Lewis CarrollWEB, Curiouser and curiouser,www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/curiouser-and-curiouser-5363792.html, The Independent, en, 11 August 2001, and Joseph HellerWEB, Self, Will, Will Self: ‘I read as many as 50 books at once’,www.theguardian.com/books/2018/aug/17/will-self-i-read-as-many-as-50-books-at-once, The Guardian, 17 August 2018, as formative influences on his writing style. Other influences on his fiction include Hunter S. Thompson.WEB, Taylor, Kate, ‘Truth is weirder than any fiction I’ve seen ... ‘,www.theguardian.com/books/2005/feb/21/huntersthompson1, The Guardian, 21 February 2005, Self credits Céline’s book Journey to the End of the Night with inspiring him to write fiction.NEWS,www.nytimes.com/2006/09/10/books/review/Self.t.html, 10 September 2006, Céline’s Dark Journey, Will Self, The New York Times, 17 July 2010, Zack Busner is a recurring character in Self’s fiction, appearing in the short story collections The Quantity Theory of Insanity, Grey Area and Dr. Mukti and Other Tales of Woe, as well as in the novels Great Apes, The Book of Dave, Umbrella and Shark. Busner is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst practising in London and is prone to self-promotion at the expense of his patients. He is often the antagonist of the stories he appears in, although not always with villainous intent.Among Self’s admirers was the American critic Harold Bloom.BOOK, Bloom, Harold, Genius : a mosaic of one hundred exemplary creative minds,archive.org/details/geniusmosaiconeh00bloo_894, limited, 2002, Warner Books, New York, 0-446-69129-1, 648, There are a few affinities, except perhaps with the admirable Antonia Byatt, in the generation after: novelists I also now admire, like Will Self, Peter Ackroyd, and John Banville., Journalist Stuart Maconie has described him as “that rarity in modern cultural life, a genuine intellectual with a bracing command of words and ideas who is also droll, likeable and culturally savvy.“Stuart Maconie. “My People”. Radio Times 2–8 February 2013, p.125

Political views

In the 2015 UK general election Self voted Labour in a general election for the first time since 1997. In May 2015, he wrote in The Guardian: “No, I’m no longer a socialist if to be one is to believe that a socialist utopia is attainable by some collective feat of will – but I remain a socialist, if ‘socialism’ is to be understood as an antipathy to vested interests and privileges neither deserved nor earned, and a strong desire for a genuinely egalitarian society.“NEWS, Self, Will,www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/may/01/will-self-oscar-wilde-champagne-socialist-voting-labour, Will Self: Oscar Wilde, champagne socialism and why I’m voting Labour, The Guardian, 1 May 2015, 10 May 2018, In March 2017, he wrote in the New Statesman: “Nowadays I think in terms of compassionate pragmatism: I’ll leave socialism to Žižek and the other bloviators.“MAGAZINE, Self, Will,www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2017/03/i-was-no-fan-new-labour-brexit-requires-original-thinking-corbyn-cant-provide, Will Self: I was no fan of New Labour – but Brexit requires original thinking Corbyn can’t provide, New Statesman, 1 May 2015, 10 May 2018, In July 2015 Self endorsed Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign in the Labour Party leadership election.Archived at Ghostarchive{{cbignore}} and the www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6nbZWfg8R8&gl=US&hl=en" title="web.archive.org/web/20150730211409www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6nbZWfg8R8&gl=US&hl=en">Wayback Machine{{cbignore}}: WEB,www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6nbZWfg8R8, Jeremy Corbyn: Will Self and John McTernan debate, Channel 4 News, 30 July 2015, 15 July 2017, {{cbignore}} He said during a Channel 4 News interview that Corbyn represents a useful ideological divide within Labour, and could lead to the formation of a schism in the party.NEWS, Vinter, Robyn, Cockburn, Harry,www.londonlovesbusiness.com/business-news/politics/all-these-celebrity-jeremy-corbyn-fans-might-surprise-you/11650.article, All these celebrity Jeremy Corbyn fans might surprise you, London Loves Business, 7 January 2016, 1 May 2018, 2 May 2018,www.londonlovesbusiness.com/business-news/politics/all-these-celebrity-jeremy-corbyn-fans-might-surprise-you/11650.article," title="web.archive.org/web/20180502065033www.londonlovesbusiness.com/business-news/politics/all-these-celebrity-jeremy-corbyn-fans-might-surprise-you/11650.article,">web.archive.org/web/20180502065033www.londonlovesbusiness.com/business-news/politics/all-these-celebrity-jeremy-corbyn-fans-might-surprise-you/11650.article, dead, Self is a republican.WEB, Self, Will, Why the monarchy must go,www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/will-self-abolish-monarchy-republicanism,

Personal life

Self’s mother died in 1988. He was married from 1989 to 1997 to Kate Chancellor. They have two children, a son, Alexis, and a daughter, Madeleine. They lived together in a terraced house just off the Portobello Road.NEWS, Martin, Sandrea, A certain sense of Self, The Globe and Mail (Canada), 7 June 1994, In 1997, Self married journalist Deborah Orr, with whom he has sons Ivan and Luther. In 2017, Orr and Self separated, and Self was living in a rented flat in Stockwell.NEWS, Appleyard, Bryan,www.thetimes.co.uk/article/calling-the-modern-world-to-account-npnf9rpzh, Calling the modern world to account, The Sunday Times, 21 May 2017, 8 July 2017, {{subscription required}} Orr died on 19 October 2019.Self has stated that he has abstained from drugs, except for caffeine and nicotine, since 1998. In 2024 he wrote: “I gave up smoking – and indeed, consuming nicotine in any way, shape or form – almost six years ago”.NEWS,www.nytimes.com/2006/12/07/arts/07iht-self.html, Will Self’s slow walk into downtown New York, Charles, McGrath, 7 December 2006, The New York Times, WEB, Self, Will, 2 January 2024, Multicultural Man: Oh, and I have cancer,www.theneweuropean.co.uk/will-self-on-cancer/, 28 January 2024, The New European, In the same column he revealed that he had been diagnosed with myelofibrosis. It is a progression of the blood disease polycythaemia vera with which he was diagnosed in 2011.WEB,www.theguardian.com/books/2011/oct/21/will-self-blood-disease, Will Self: The trouble with my blood, TheGuardian.com, 21 October 2011, WEB, When Polycythemia Vera Turns Into Another Cancer,www.webmd.com/cancer/lymphoma/polycythemia-vera-changes-other-cancer, 28 January 2024, He sent his younger children to private schools after they experienced bullying at state schools in Lambeth.WEB,www.standard.co.uk/news/im-a-diehard-leftie-but-my-son-is-going-to-private-school-6898981.html, I’m a diehard Leftie but my son is going to private school, 14 October 2008, He has described himself as a psychogeographer and modern flâneur, and has written about walks he has taken.NEWS,www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2007/nov/12/mappingwillselfsmind, London, The Guardian, Bharat, Azad, Books, 12 November 2007, In December 2006, he walked {{convert|26|mi|km|abbr=off}} from his home in South London to Heathrow Airport. Upon arriving at Kennedy Airport he walked {{convert|20|mi|km|abbr=off}} from there to Manhattan. In August 2013, Self wrote of his anger following an incident in which he was stopped and questioned by police in Yorkshire while out walking with his 11-year-old son, on suspicion of being a paedophile. The police were alerted by a security guard at Bishop Burton College. He had asked the security guard for permission to cross the school grounds.NEWS, Questioned for taking a country walk with his son?: Even Will Self couldn’t make it up Dismayed author blames fear of paedophiles for warping attitudes,www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/questioned-for-taking-a-country-walk-with-his-son-even-will-self-couldnt-make-it-up-8773439.html, 19 August 2013, The Independent, 18 August 2013, Tom Foot, London, In September 2018 Self was accused of “mental cruelty” by Orr in relation to their divorce, in a series of posts on Twitter.NEWS, 24 August 2019, Will Self accused of cruelty in divorce row with Deborah Orr, The Times,www.thetimes.co.uk/article/will-self-accused-of-cruelty-in-divorce-row-69zqdbn6w, Self has discussed his Jewish heritage, by way of his mother, and its impact on his identity.WEB, Will Self,www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/will-self, Interview Magazine, 3 November 2014, NEWS,www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/14/british-american-jewish-londoner-will-self, Call me British, American, Jewish, Londoner – just don’t call me patriotic | Will Self, Will, Self, The Guardian, 14 April 2017, www.theguardian.com, WEB, Will Self: Who are you to call me Jewish?,www.newstatesman.com/lifestyle/lifestyle/2012/05/will-self-who-are-you-call-me-jewish, www.newstatesman.com, en, 1 September 2019, 1 September 2019,web.archive.org/web/20190901101942/https://www.newstatesman.com/lifestyle/lifestyle/2012/05/will-self-who-are-you-call-me-jewish, dead, In 2006, Self ‘resigned’ as a Jew as a protest against the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.WEB, Self, Will, How I Stopped Being a Jew by Shlomo Sand and Unchosen: The Memoirs of a Philo-Semite by Julie Burchill – review,www.theguardian.com/books/2014/nov/06/how-i-stopped-being-a-jew-shlomo-sand-unchosen-julie-burchill-review, The Guardian, 6 November 2014, In 2018 he stated in an interview with the BBC that he had rethought his position, due to the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Britain.WEB,www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b5xh33, BBC Radio 4 - A Point of View, A New Anti-Semitism, BBC, Self is {{convert|6|ft|5|in|cm}} tall,The Calgary Herald (Alberta) 23 July 2006 Sunday Final Edition Meaning of Masculinity: It’s the subject of almost everything Will Self writes collects vintage typewritersWEB,www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n05/will-self/diary, Diary, 5 March 2015, London Review of Books, 26 February 2015, and smokes a pipe.WEB,www.tatler.com/the-tatler-list/s/will-self, Will Self, Tatler, 22 June 2012,www.tatler.com/the-tatler-list/s/will-self," title="web.archive.org/web/20120708021208www.tatler.com/the-tatler-list/s/will-self,">web.archive.org/web/20120708021208www.tatler.com/the-tatler-list/s/will-self, 8 July 2012, dead, His brother is the author and journalist Jonathan Self.NEWS, Mullan, John, Guardian book club: Will Self,www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2007/jun/15/books1194, The Guardian, 2007-06-15, London, Self became a vegetarian in 2019.NEWS, 2022-01-22, Will Self’s fantasy dinner party — a vegetarian feast served by Margaret Thatcher, Financial Times,www.ft.com/content/e1161205-8052-4971-9b3d-acae8220073d#comments-anchor, 2023-02-18,

Legacy

In 2016, the British Library acquired Self’s archive; the collection is a hybrid archive of paper and born-digital material.WEB, Will Self’s archive acquired by the British Library - English and Drama blog,blogs.bl.uk/english-and-drama/2016/12/will-selfs-archive-acquired-by-the-british-library.html, blogs.bl.uk, 13 May 2020, The Papers of Will Self are divided into two parts: family papers and personal and literary papers. The papers can be accessed through the British Library catalogue.The Papers of Will Self, archives and manuscripts catalogue, the British Library. Retrieved 13 May 2020

Awards

• 1991: Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize for The Quantity Theory of Insanity
• 1998: Aga Khan Prize for Fiction from The Paris Review for Tough Tough Toys for Tough Tough Boys
• 2008: Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction for The Butt

Works

Novels

• Cock and Bull (1992)
• My Idea of Fun (1993)
• The Sweet Smell of Psychosis (illustrated novella) (1996)
• Great Apes (1997)
• How the Dead Live (2000)
• Dorian, an Imitation (2002)
• The Book of Dave (2006)
• The Butt (2008)
• Walking to Hollywood (2010)
• Umbrella (2012)
• Shark (2014)
• Phone (2017)

Short story collections

• The Quantity Theory of Insanity (1991)
• Grey Area (1994)
• Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys (1998)
• Dr. Mukti and Other Tales of Woe (2004)
• (Liver: A Fictional Organ with a Surface Anatomy of Four Lobes) (2008)
• The Undivided Self: Selected Stories (2010)

Non-fiction

Self has also compiled several books of work from his newspaper and magazine columns which mix interviews with counter-culture figures, restaurant reviews and literary criticism.

• Junk Mail (1996)
• Perfidious Man (2000) photography by David M. Gamble
• Sore Sites (2000)
• Feeding Frenzy (2001)
• Psychogeography (2007)
• Psycho Too (2009)
• The Unbearable Lightness of Being a Prawn Cracker (2012)
• Will (2019)
• Why Read: Selected Writings 2001-2021 (2022)

Television

• The Minor Character – Self’s short story was turned into a short film on Sky Arts which starred David Tennant as “Will”.

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

{{sisterlinks|d=Q261054|c=Category:Will Self|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|wikt=no|s=no|species=no}}

• {{official website}}
• {{discogs artist}}
• {{IMDb name|1107102|Will Self}}
• {{british council|id=will-self|name=Will Self}}
• Will Self article on why he writes in The Guardian
• “The Principle”, short fiction by Will Self
• Will Self profile from the New Statesman
• Will Self author page at Guardian Books
• Will Self short interview at the BBC
• archive.salon.com/audio/col/mill/2000/10/19/miller/" title="web.archive.org/web/20071103092926archive.salon.com/audio/col/mill/2000/10/19/miller/">Will Self audio interview at Salon
• ’The Lives of Typewriters and Large Data-sets: The Will Self Archive’ British Library English and Drama Blog

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