Susanna Clarke
(Nottingham, 1959). An Oxford graduate, she taught English in Turin and Bilbao before working as an editor in Cambridge. Her first novel, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, published in 2004, was an unexpected publishing phenomenon: it sold four million copies on its release, was translated into thirty-two languages, won the Hugo Award and the World Fantasy Award for best novel and was voted Novel of the Year by independent booksellers in the United States. It was also adapted as a series for the BBC in 2015. The novel, which recreates a detailed fantasy universe where magic, history and humour are lavishly intertwined, also has a fan base headed by the writer Neil Gaiman. After such a successful debut, we had to wait three years for her next release, The Ladies of Grace Adieu, a book of short stories in the wake of the imaginary world full of irony that is Clarke’s hallmark. After an even longer gap, she published Piranesi, her last novel to date, in 2020 All three books are published by Salamandra.