Kazuo Ishiguro

Authors with backgrounds in China, Nigeria, Ghana, the US, Bangladesh and Pakistan were all recognised in a predominantly female Granta List – the first time the list has been dominated by women.

The names are (deep breath): Naomi Alderman, Tahmima Anam, Ned Beauman, Jenni Fagan, Adam Foulds, Xiaolu Guo, Sarah Hall, Steven Hall, Joanna Kavenna, Benjamin Markovits, Nadifa Mohamed, Helen Oyeyemi, Ross Raisin, Sunjeev Sahota, Taiye Selasi, Kamila Shamsie, Zadie Smith, David Szalay, Adam Thirlwell and Evie Wyld. "From satirists to humorists to sweeping epic-spinners, these writers have a command of language and their form which is simply astonishing. They show that the novel has a bold, brilliant future in Britain," said Granta editor John Freeman. Several writers already have an established market, like Adam Foulds, whose book, The Quickening Maze was shortlisted for the 2009 Man Boooker prize, while Sarah Hall's The Electric Michelangelo was shortlisted in 2004 and How to Paint a Dead Man was longlisted in 2009. One of the more interesting entrants was Sunjeev Sahota, who, according to Freeman, "had never read a novel until he was 18 – until he bought Midnight's Children at Heathrow. He studied maths, he works in marketing and finance; he lives in Leeds, completely out of the literary world."

Kazuo Ishiguro was recognised by Granta in 1983, and has gone on to write successful films

Continue reading: Granta List – A Who’s Who Of International Female Authors