Will Self

William Woodard Self (born 26 September 1961) is an English writer, journalist, political commentator and broadcaster.

He has written 11 novels, five collections of shorter fiction, three novellas and nine collections of non-fiction writing.

Self is currently Professor of Modern Thought at Brunel University London, where he teaches psychogeography.

He moved to Gloucester Road around 1985.

In 1986 he entered a treatment centre in Weston-super-Mare, where he claimed that his heroin addiction was cured.

In 1989, "through a series of accidents", he "blagged" his way into running a small publishing company.

The publication of his short story collection The Quantity Theory of Insanity brought him to public attention in 1991.

Self was hailed as an original new talent by Salman Rushdie, Doris Lessing, Beryl Bainbridge, A. S. Byatt and Bill Buford.

In 1993, he was nominated by Granta magazine as one of the 20 "Best Young British Novelists".

Conversely, Self's second book, My Idea of Fun, was "mauled" by the critics.

Self joined the Observer as a columnist in 1995.

His 2002 novel Dorian, an Imitation was longlisted for the Booker Prize, and his 2012 novel Umbrella was shortlisted.

His fiction is known for being satirical, grotesque and fantastical, and is predominantly set within his home city of London.

His writing often explores mental illness, drug abuse and psychiatry.

Self is a regular contributor to publications including The Guardian, Harper's Magazine, The New York Times and the London Review of Books.

He currently writes columns for the New Statesman and The New European.

He has been a columnist for the Observer, The Times, and the Evening Standard.

His columns for Building Design on the built environment, and for the Independent Magazine on the psychology of place brought him to prominence as a thinker concerned with the politics of urbanism.

Self is a regular contributor to British television, initially as a guest on comic panel shows such as Have I Got News for You.

In 2002, Self replaced Mark Lamarr on the BBC comedy panel show Shooting Stars for two series, but was himself replaced by comedian Jack Dee when the programme returned in 2008.

He has since appeared on current affairs programmes such as Newsnight and Question Time.

Self is a contributor to the BBC Radio 4 programme A Point of View, to which he contributes radio essays delivered in his familiar "lugubrious tones".

In 2013, Self took part in discussions about becoming the inaugural BBC Radio 4 Writer-in-Residence, but later withdrew.

Self was born in Charing Cross Hospital and brought up in north London, between the suburbs of East Finchley and Hampstead Garden Suburb.

His parents were Peter John Otter Self, Professor of Public Administration at the London School of Economics, and Elaine Rosenbloom, from Queens, New York, who worked as a publisher's assistant.

His paternal grandfather was Sir Albert Henry Self.

Self spent a year living in Ithaca in upstate New York.

Self's parents separated when he was nine, and divorced when he was 18.

Despite the intellectual encouragement given by his parents, he was an emotionally confused and self-destructive child, harming himself with cigarette ends and knives before beginning to experiment with drugs.

Self was a voracious reader from a young age.

When he was 10, he developed an interest in works of science fiction such as Frank Herbert's Dune and the works of J. G. Ballard and Philip K. Dick.

Into his teenage years, Self claimed to have been "overawed by the canon", which stifled his ability to express himself.

Self's use of drugs increased in step with his prolific reading.

He started smoking cannabis at the age of 12, progressing by way of amphetamines, cocaine and LSD to heroin, which he started injecting at 18.

Self struggled with mental health issues during this period, and aged 20 became a hospital outpatient.

Self attended University College School, an independent school for boys in Hampstead.

He later attended Christ's College, Finchley, from where he went to Exeter College, Oxford, reading Philosophy, Politics and Economics and graduated with a third class degree.

At Oxford, he was editor of and frequent contributor to an underground left-wing student newspaper called Red Herring/Oxford Strumpet, copies of which are archived in the Bodleian Library.

After graduating from Oxford, Self worked for the Greater London Council, including as a road sweeper, while residing in Brixton.

He pursued a career as a cartoonist for the New Statesman and other publications and as a stand-up comedian.