Kate Atkinson

Born in York, Atkinson studied literature at the University of Dundee, and went on to earn her Masters in 1974. She briefly enrolled in courses for a doctorate degree, but had to drop out after failing the university's oral exam. Undeterred, Atkinson took on a series of odd jobs, including secretarial and teaching work, to support herself while she pursued a career in writing. She began writing short stories in the early '80s and by 1984 was a published in various women's magazines. Novel writing, however, was Atkinson's true passion, and in between various freelance writing stints she worked on the novel that would become 1995's Behind the Scenes at the Museum. The novel received nearly universal critical praise when it was released - a rarity for a first time novelist - and went on to win that year's Whitbread Book of the Year Award. Atkinson continued to work furiously over the next several years, publishing two more novels, a play, as well as a book of short stories with 2002's Not the End of the World. In 2004 she introduced the reading public to Jackson Brodie, a British cop turned private eye, in the crime novel Case Histories. Case Histories was an instant hit, and by 2011 Atkinson had published three more Jackson Brodie novels, all of which were equally as successful. The first three of Atkinson's Brodie novels were adapted for a TV audience in 2011 when "Case Histories" (2011-) debuted on the BBC, with Jason Isaacs starring as the lead detective. After nearly a decade immersed in the fictional world of Jackson Brodie, Atkinson took a break from the character in 2013 with the publication of Life After Life, an epic novel that traces one character's journey through some of the most pivotal moments of World War II. Life After Life was widely praised upon its release, ending up on several critics' lists of the year's best novels.