ABSTRACT
Many of the writers who have gained commercial success and critical acclaim in the late 1980s and 1990s have been characterized both by their ability to write about, and through, different media. Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie, Jeanette Winterson and Hanif Kureishi have all dabbled in journalism (personal, political and literary), stage/screenplay writing and have made appearances on television and radio programmes. Those capable of such multi-or cross-media interventions are, perhaps since Angela Carter, no longer exceptional, and contemporary writers are increasingly accustomed to media and celebrity, even if they are not necessary adept or comfortable with it. In this respect then, A. L. Kennedy appears to be contemporary with full media low-down. Although she is primarily known as a short-story writer, through collections such as Night Geometry and the Garscadden Trains (1990), Now That You’re Back (1994), Original Bliss (1997), and Indelible Acts (2002). She has also written three novels (Looking for the Possible Dance [1993b], So I am Glad [1996a], and Everything You Need [1999]); volumes of film criticism (The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, 1997) and cultural commentary (On Bullfighting, 2000); a stage play (The Audition, 1993); a radio drama (Born a Fox, 2002); a film screenplay (Stella Does Tricks, 1996); and is a regular contributor to the Guardian and other newspapers, as well as to various radio and television discussion forums. One of her most recent projects is reported to be an animatronic film for children (Curtis 2002).1
