Introduction
Nick Harkaway (born 1972) is a British novelist and commentator. He is the author of the novels The Gone-Away World, Angelmaker, Tigerman, and Gnomon; and a non-fiction study of the digital world, The Blind Giant: Being Human in a Digital World.
Life
Harkaway was born Nicholas Cornwell in Cornwall, England. He is the son of Valérie Jane Eustace and author John le Carré.
Harkaway was educated at the independent University College School in North London, and Clare College, Cambridge, where he studied philosophy, sociology and politics and took up Shorinji Kan Jiu Jitsu. He worked in the film industry before becoming an author.
Fiction
The Gone-Away World
The Gone-Away World (2009) is Harkaway's first novel. Originally titled The Wages of Gonzo Lubitsch, it concerns a number of ex-special forces operatives turned truckers who are hired to perform a dangerous mission in a post-apocalyptic world.
Angelmaker
Angelmaker (2013) is a spy thriller detailing a clockmaker's attempt to stop a Cold War era doomsday weapon.
Tigerman
Tigerman (2014) concerns a superhero origin story on an impoverished and doomed tropical island.
Gnomon
Gnomon (2017) deals with a state that exerts ubiquitous surveillance on its population. A detective investigates a murder through unconventional methods that leads to questions about her society's very nature.
Non-fiction
The Blind Giant (2012), Harkaway's first work of non-fiction, dealt with the effect of digital change on society and what it means to be human.
Views on Google Book settlement
Harkaway has been an outspoken critic of the Google Book Search Settlement Agreement, posting on his blog, speaking out on BBC Radio’s The World at One in May 2009, and appearing on a television debate with Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Tom Watson MP in September 2009.