Hall, Steven 1975-

PERSONAL:

Born 1975, in Derbyshire, England. Education: Graduated from Sheffield Hallam University.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Hull, England. Agent—Simon Trewin, PFD, Drury House, 34-43 Russell St., London WC2B 5HA, England.

CAREER:

Writer, producer; Wet Nana, Manchester, England, founding member.

WRITINGS:

The Raw Shark Texts (novel), Canongate (Edinburgh, Scotland), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Steven Hall was born in Derbyshire, England, in 1975. He graduated from Sheffield Hallam University, where he studied fine arts, and went on to become a founding member of Wet Nana. His diverse interests have led him to produce a wide range of artistic works, including plays, music videos, conceptual art, and short stories, as well as his first novel, The Raw Shark Texts, which was released in 2007. The book garnered immediate attention, with translation rights sold for more than twenty different international markets, as well as the possibility of a film adaptation. Critics have praised the book, which has earned comparison to various iconic pieces of pop culture, including The Matrix film series. Hall began writing five years before publication of the book, with the intention of producing something different. The result stems from two different narrative streams, one that looks at loss and how it can affect one's identity when so much of a person's self-image is garnered from the reactions of and interactions with other people, and one that focuses on a conceptual shark, stemming from the frequent use of water metaphors in common vernacular. Hall turns reality on its side and offers readers the opportunity to work through various puzzles and allusions, or simply to read through the text taking it at its face value, very much the way viewers may approach The Matrix films.

The Raw Shark Texts begins with a man waking up in a bedroom with no memory of who or where he is. A series of clues gives him a starting point as Eric Sanderson, and he eventually learns from a psychiatrist that he has dissociative amnesia, the result of his girlfriend's death in a diving accident. But this answer does little to help Eric, particularly when another Eric Sanderson begins to send him letters, claiming a shark called the Ludovician is eating his memories. Different meanings may be gleaned from the book, depending on the reader's approach, and Hall claims there are at least three versions that make sense. A contributor for Kirkus Reviews called the book "quite a narrative feat of hallucinatory imagination, though occasionally only borderline coherent." Eliot Schrefer, in a review for USA Today, commented: "A metaphysical book such as this easily could have become dense and inaccessible, but Hall's unrelenting focus on visual storytelling keeps it lucid." A reviewer for the Internet Bookwatch called the book "a powerful novel of lost love and identity," and "a compelling read."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Bookseller, February 9, 2007, review of The Raw Shark Texts, p. 13; February 23, 2007, review of The Raw Shark Texts, p. 10.

Book World, June 17, 2007, Tyler Knox, "Postmodern Jaws," p. 6.

Bulletin with Newsweek, April 3, 2007, Susan Skelly, review of The Raw Shark Texts, p. 61.

Entertainment Weekly, April 6, 2007, Karen Leigh, review of The Raw Shark Texts, p. 79.

Internet Bookwatch, August, 2007, review of The Raw Shark Texts.

Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 2007, review of The Raw Shark Texts, p. 91.

National Post, April 7, 2007, Sam Leith, review of The Raw Shark Texts, p. 5.

New Statesman, March 5, 2007, Steven Poole, "Big Fish, Little Fish," p. 57.

New York Times Book Review, April 22, 2007, Tom Shone, "Fish Story," p. 19.

Publishers Weekly, January 15, 2007, review of The Raw Shark Texts, p. 28.

Times Literary Supplement, February 23, 2007, Sarah Bakewell, "The Sea under the Sofa," p. 22.

USA Today, April 24, 2007, Eliot Schrefer, "‘Shark Texts’ Will Eat You Up," p. 6.

ONLINE

Canongate Web site,http://www.canongate.net/ (December 8, 2007), author profile.

PFD Web site,http://www.pfd.co.uk/ (December 8, 2007), author profile.

Raw Shark Texts Home Page,http://www.rawsharktexts.com (December 8, 2007).

San Francisco Chronicle Online,http://www.sfgate.com/ (May 29, 2007), Reyhan Harmanci, "Steven Hall Gets It Right on the First Try."

Steven Hall MySpace Page,http://www.myspace.com/stevenhallbooks (December 8, 2007).