Susanna Jones Lecturer susanna.jones@rhul.ac.uk

Career - Research - Publications - Other Activities

Career

Susanna Jones graduated in Drama/Theatre Studies from Royal Holloway College in 1988. She subsequently worked abroad, in Japan and Turkey, as an English teacher and radio script editor. In 1996 she studied for an MA in Novel Writing at the University of Manchester. She was lecturer in Fiction Writing at the University of Exeter from 2003-5. Susanna is the author of three novels, ‘The Earthquake Bird’ (2001), ‘Water Lily’ (2003) and ‘The Missing Person’s Guide to Love’ (2007). She edited ‘The Brighton Moment’ (2008) and has also published short stories and book reviews. Her writing has been translated into twenty languages and won four awards: The CWA John Creasey Dagger (2001), John Llewellyn Rhys Award (2001), Betty Trask Award (2002), Book of the Year (for the Hungarian translation, 2004)

Research

Susanna’s first two novels are set in Japan and draw on conventions of mystery and suspense. She studied Japanese for many years and is interested in the new wave of Japanese crime fiction that is being translated into English, particularly by young women. She is interested in representations of fear and the uncanny in contemporary Japanese literature and film. ‘The Missing Person’s Guide to Love’ is set mostly in an unnamed village in Yorkshire, is about a homecoming, and develops themes explored in her first two novels. She is working on her fourth novel, short stories and a screenplay for a ghost story.

Publications

Fiction

The Earthquake Bird, novel, Picador, 2001
Water Lily, novel, Picador, 2003
‘Break-in’, short story, BBC Radio 4, March 2003
The Missing Person’s Guide to Love, novel, Picador, 2007

Non-fiction

The Brighton Moment (ed), collection of non-fiction and illustrations, UnMadeup, 2008

Selected Articles and Reviews

Review of The China Lover by Ian Buruma, Literary Review (December 2008)
‘Unreliable Narrators’, article, Picador Blog, www.picador.com, June 2008
‘A Writer’s Routine’, article, Picador Blog, www.picador.com, November 2007
Review of Blind Willow Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami, Literary Review, June 2006
Review of Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami, Literary Review, January 2005
Review of Wrong About Japan by Peter Carey, New Statesman, December 2004
Review of Somersault by Kenzaburo Oe, Literary Review, July 2003
Review of Madame Sadayakko by Lesley Downer, New Statesman, March 2003
‘Bright Lanterns’, art review, New Statesman, February 2003
‘Oriental Lolitas’, article, New Statesman, February 2003
‘Paperback Writer’, article, Guardian, January 2003

Other Activities

Susanna has given regular readings and workshops at major literary festivals. She has talked about her work and about Japanese art and culture on Radio 3, BBC London Live, Radio 5 Live and on the Mystery Channel in Japan. In 2006 she was writer-in-residence in Shetland. She also teaches for the Arvon Foundation. Her website can be found at: www.susanna-jones.com.