Andrea Levy was born in north London in 1956 to Jamaican parents. After studying for a degree in textile design, Levy worked in the costume departments of the BBC and the Royal Opera House, as well as at a charity and in her husband’s graphic design business. She did not start writing until her thirties, when she enrolled on a creative writing evening course at City Lit. Levy ultimately produced five novels, all of which received enthusiastic praise from reviewers; by the time of her death in 2019 she had become one of the most prominent, most widely-read, and most widely-studied writers of the contemporary moment. Her final two novels were particularly successful both critically and commercially, and won her numerous awards:
Small Island(2004) received, among other accolades, the…
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Citation: Perfect, Michael. "Andrea Levy". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 June 2009; last revised 19 February 2020. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12626, accessed 21 November 2024.]
