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Ben Myers
Benjamin Myers FRSL (born January 1976) is an English writer and journalist.
Myers grew up in Belmont, County Durham, and was a pupil at the estate's local comprehensive school where he became interested in reading and skateboarding.
Myers attended his first concert in Durham in March 1990, when he was fourteen. It led to him forming the punk rock band Sour Face the next year. The band quickly became involved in the Durham hardcore punk scene. Despite being one of the few bands in the scene that was not straight edge, Sour Face became the mascots, with their third performance seeing them open for NOFX. Voorhees' first performance was opening for Sour Face in September 1991.
As a teenager Myers began writing for British weekly Melody Maker. In 1997 he became their staff writer while residing in the Oval Mansions squat for several years. In 2011 he published an article, about his brief time as an intern at News of the World. He has spoken about failing English Literature at A-level and being rejected by "more than a hundred" universities before being accepted by the University of Bedfordshire (formerly Luton University).
As a journalist, Myers has written about literature, music and the arts for a number of publications including New Statesman, Mojo, The Guardian, NME, The Spectator, BBC, New Scientist, Alternative Press, Kerrang!, Plan B, Arena, Bizarre, The Quietus, Vice, Shortlist, Caught by the River, Metal Hammer, The Morning Star, Classic Rock, 3:AM Magazine, Mineshaft and Time Out.
Myers' books span literary fiction, nature/landscape writing, crime, historical fiction and poetry. He has been translated into eight languages. He has published several poetry collections and written a number of music biographies which have been widely translated. He is a founding member of the Brutalists, a literary collective including authors Adelle Stripe and Tony O'Neill. His second novel, Richard: A Novel, was a fictionalized account of the life of musician Richey Edwards. It was published by Picador in October 2010, and polarised critical opinion.
Pig Iron (2012) was set in the traveller/gypsy community of the northeast of England and was the first to be published under his full name Benjamin Myers. Published by Bluemoose Books, it won the inaugural Gordon Burn Prize and was longlisted for 3:AM Magazine's 'Novels of the Year' and runner-up in The Guardian's 'Not The Booker Prize', in the same year.
Myers' novel The Gallows Pole (2017), based on the true story of the Cragg Vale Coiners, received a Roger Deakin Award and won the 2018 Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction. As part of the prize, both author and book title appeared as the official Royal Mail franking stamp for a week on an estimated 60 million pieces of mail. It was released by Third Man Books, part of Third Man Records in the US and Canada. In 2021 the BBC announced an adaptation of the novel by director Shane Meadows. It was first broadcast on BBC2 on 31 May 2023.
Ben Myers
Benjamin Myers FRSL (born January 1976) is an English writer and journalist.
Myers grew up in Belmont, County Durham, and was a pupil at the estate's local comprehensive school where he became interested in reading and skateboarding.
Myers attended his first concert in Durham in March 1990, when he was fourteen. It led to him forming the punk rock band Sour Face the next year. The band quickly became involved in the Durham hardcore punk scene. Despite being one of the few bands in the scene that was not straight edge, Sour Face became the mascots, with their third performance seeing them open for NOFX. Voorhees' first performance was opening for Sour Face in September 1991.
As a teenager Myers began writing for British weekly Melody Maker. In 1997 he became their staff writer while residing in the Oval Mansions squat for several years. In 2011 he published an article, about his brief time as an intern at News of the World. He has spoken about failing English Literature at A-level and being rejected by "more than a hundred" universities before being accepted by the University of Bedfordshire (formerly Luton University).
As a journalist, Myers has written about literature, music and the arts for a number of publications including New Statesman, Mojo, The Guardian, NME, The Spectator, BBC, New Scientist, Alternative Press, Kerrang!, Plan B, Arena, Bizarre, The Quietus, Vice, Shortlist, Caught by the River, Metal Hammer, The Morning Star, Classic Rock, 3:AM Magazine, Mineshaft and Time Out.
Myers' books span literary fiction, nature/landscape writing, crime, historical fiction and poetry. He has been translated into eight languages. He has published several poetry collections and written a number of music biographies which have been widely translated. He is a founding member of the Brutalists, a literary collective including authors Adelle Stripe and Tony O'Neill. His second novel, Richard: A Novel, was a fictionalized account of the life of musician Richey Edwards. It was published by Picador in October 2010, and polarised critical opinion.
Pig Iron (2012) was set in the traveller/gypsy community of the northeast of England and was the first to be published under his full name Benjamin Myers. Published by Bluemoose Books, it won the inaugural Gordon Burn Prize and was longlisted for 3:AM Magazine's 'Novels of the Year' and runner-up in The Guardian's 'Not The Booker Prize', in the same year.
Myers' novel The Gallows Pole (2017), based on the true story of the Cragg Vale Coiners, received a Roger Deakin Award and won the 2018 Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction. As part of the prize, both author and book title appeared as the official Royal Mail franking stamp for a week on an estimated 60 million pieces of mail. It was released by Third Man Books, part of Third Man Records in the US and Canada. In 2021 the BBC announced an adaptation of the novel by director Shane Meadows. It was first broadcast on BBC2 on 31 May 2023.