Stephen Kelman


Stephen Kelman is an English novelist who grew up on the Marsh Farm council estate in Luton. He studied marketing at the University of Bedfordshire, and subsequently worked in a factory before writing Pigeon English. From a young age he wanted to be a writer and was inspired by the murder of Damilola Taylor to write his debut novel Pigeon English. It was a shortlisted nominee for the 2011 Man Booker Prize the Desmond Elliot Prize, the 2011 writer of the year and the guardian first book award. He now lives with his wife Uzma in St. Albans.
Stephen's most recent work, Man on Fire, is a fictional biography about an Indian Journalist Bibhuti Bhushan Nayak, who holds multiple Guinness and Limca Book of Records while at the same time teaches underprivileged children Martial Arts at the local Gurudwara in his hometown. Man on Fire is a study of human dignity and male folly; a story of transformation, loss and rebirth. This novel was released by Bloomsbury Publishing house on August 13, 2015 in 28 countries.

Early life

After finishing his degree he worked variously as a warehouse operative, a careworkerprick, and in marketing and local government administration.
He decided to pursue his writing seriously in 2005, completing several feature screenplays since. Pigeon English was his first novel.