Introduction
Guy Mankowski (born 6 January 1983) is a writer based in Newcastle upon Tyne. He was educated at Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire. He read Applied Psychology at Durham University. He then trained as a psychologist at The Royal Hospital in London.
Career
His first novel, 'The Intimates', was a Recommended Title for New Writing North’s 2011 Read Regional Campaign. It was described by author Abigail Tarttelin as a 'measured, literary piece of work as hauntingly evocative of its setting and characters as Marilynne Robinson's Pulitzer Prize winner Housekeeping’. Culture Magazine were more critical, and called it 'unusually stylised for contemporary fiction'. Mankowski's 'breakthrough' second novel, Letters from Yelena, was described by New Books Magazine as having 'shades of The Red Shoes and The Black Swan (film)'.
The novel was given Arts Council funding, allowing Mankowski to be one of a few English people granted access to the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in St. Petersburg for research purposes. The choreographer Dora Frankel created a dance based on the book. An excerpt of the novel was used as GCSE training material by Osiris Educational. His third novel, How I Left The National Grid, was written as part of a PhD. Whilst researching for it, Mankowski interviewed musicians such as Jehnny Beth from post-punk band Savages. It has been speculated that the novel he was researching was inspired by missing Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richey Edwards. Of the novel, The Huffington Post said, 'Mankowski captures brilliantly the psychology of 'fan obsession'. Those of us who marvelled at The Secret History or A Passage to India are sure to find it equally enthralling'. The novelist Andrew Crumey commented 'Already recognised as a major rising talent, Mankowski here establishes himself as a significant voice in British fiction'. In the 2015 textbook ‘Creative Writing: A NAWE Handbook For Teachers’ a chapter on 'The Writing Journal' describes how Mankowski used his notebooks to develop the background of the novel.
Mankowski’s fourth novel, 'An Honest Deceit', was published in October 2016. Narc Magazine called it 'a gripping contemporary thriller centering around the death of the protagonists beloved young daughter', adding 'Mankowski’s training as a psychologist helps to draw out a taught storyline, full of razor sharp prose and trickery around every corner.’ The Huffington Post called it ‘a book of outstanding quality.’
When asked in a 2016 interview with 3:AM Magazine who the artists that meant the most to him growing up were, Mankowski answered 'Manic Street Preachers, The Smashing Pumpkins, Suede (band), PJ Harvey, Placebo (band) and The Smiths spring to mind. They all carry a similar faded glamour and all but one have a certain exhausted Englishness...The function they fulfilled was to make me feel as if I wasn’t mad, and I felt comforted by these distant, kindred spirits.'
Publications
Novels
- The Intimates (Legend Press) ISBN 978-1-907756-46-7 March 2011.
- Letters from Yelena (Legend Press) ISBN 978-1-909039-10-0 October 2012.
- How I Left The National Grid (Roundfire) ISBN 178279896X February 2015.
- An Honest Deceit (Urbane) ISBN 978-1911129974 October 2016.
Anthologies
- A Body Of Strangers in Eight Rooms (Legend Press, 2009).
- The Willows in Ten Journeys (Legend Press, 2010).
- Queens Of The Guestlist in Radgepacket- Tales From The Inner Cities Volume 4 (Byker Books, 2011).
Short stories
- The Dagenham Dolls (Structo, 2009).
- The Insiders Party (Litro, 2009).
- A Girl Named Grape (The View From Here, 2010).
Academic articles
- I Can’t Seem To Stay A Fixed Ideal’: Self-design and self-harm in subcultures in Punk & Post Punk, Intellect Books, Vol. 2.3, February 2014.
- Pop manifestos and nosebleed art rock: What have post-punk bands achieved? in Punk & Post Punk, Intellect Books, Vol. 3.2, October 2014.
Editing
- Crash, Bank, Wallop: The Story Of The HBOS Whistleblower by Paul Moore (New Wilberforce Media, 2015).