Andrea Levy

Standard Name: Levy, Andrea
AL was a Black British novelist with roots in Jamaica, who began publishing towards the end of the twentieth century. Her five novels (in 2015) centre on the attainment of satisfactory mixed-race and mixed-nationality identities. She presents even the seamiest sides of human behaviour with humour and an understanding of life renewing itself in the most hostile environments as in more favourable ones. Her novels broadened and deepened from their early reliance on her own experience to the creation of characters whose experience is remote from that of herself or her potential readers. She also wrote reviews, short stories, and non-fiction, but her website concentrated almost exclusively on her novels.
Levy, Andrea. Andrea Levy. 2010, http://www.andrealevy.co.uk/.
Portrait photo of Andrea Levy. She has curly black hair and a white cardigan. Behind her is a tree trunk and to her left is a smattering of foliage.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Literary responses Bernardine Evaristo
The cover of Lara, 2009, quotes Andrea Levy calling it extraordinarily beautiful . . . rich and evocative . . . fascinating in its span of time and continents.
Evaristo, Bernardine. Lara. New Edition, Bloodaxe Books, 2009.
cover

Timeline

Before mid-September 2004: Melanie Abrahams of literary agency Renaissance...

Writing climate item

Before mid-September 2004

Melanie Abrahams of literary agency Renaissance One organised a group photo of people of Afro, Caribbean, or Asian origin who make a significant contribution to contemporary British literature.
Levy, Andrea. “Made in Britain”. The Guardian, 18 Sept. 2004, pp. Review 34 - 5.
Review 34-5

21 May 2013: Sotheby's held an auction of fifty contemporary...

Writing climate item

21 May 2013

Sotheby's held an auction of fifty contemporary first editions annotated for the purpose of this sale by their authors. A total of £439,200 was raised for English PEN , of which £150,000 (the highest price)...

Texts

Levy, Andrea. Andrea Levy. http://www.andrealevy.co.uk/.
Levy, Andrea. “Back to my Own Country”. British Library Windrush Stories.
Levy, Andrea. Every Light in the House Burnin’. Headline, 1994.
Levy, Andrea. Fruit of the Lemon. Review, 1999.
Levy, Andrea. “Made in Britain”. The Guardian, pp. Review 34 - 5.
Levy, Andrea. Never Far From Nowhere. Headline Review, 1996.
Levy, Andrea. Six Stories and an Essay. Headline, 2014.
Levy, Andrea. Small Island. Review, 2004.
Levy, Andrea. The Long Song. Headline Review, 2010.
Levy, Andrea. “This is my England”. The Guardian.