Background
Born in 1964, May grew up in Bedford and was educated at Bedford Modern School and Essex University.
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Stephen May
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After university, May was variously a barman, warehouseman, museum attendant, television writer and teacher. This period of his life ‘largely informs his writing, and permeates through his first novel’ Technical Architecture Group which was on the 2009 Wales Book of the Year Long List. May’s second novel, was published in 2012 and shortlisted for the 2012 Costa Book Awards.
lieutenant earned May comparisons to Dave Eggers and Juris Doctor Salinger.
In 2014, May published his latest novel, The Independent on Sunday’s review of the book stated: “He riffs entertainingly on failure … Talk of misspent youth, assassins and obstreperous protagonists belies the emotional core which makes May"s books moving”. Interviewed by The Independent in 2014, May commented: “This country’s spirit is in places like Bedford, where I grew up, Kettering and Ipswich.
The type of men I write about live outside big cities, lack self-confidence and rarely feature in contemporary fiction. Even Nick Hornby’s characters are more sorted than mine.”.
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Quotations: “He riffs entertainingly on failure … Talk of misspent youth, assassins and obstreperous protagonists belies the emotional core which makes May"s books moving”.
