Dr Naomi Wood

Naomi Wood is an acclaimed author who has had her work published in eight languages and is also a part-time Lecturer on the BA English & Creative Writing and the PhD in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths. Her first novel, The Godless Boys, was published to critical acclaim by Picador in 2011, and her second novel Mrs Hemingway has just been published by Picador, and by Penguin in the US.

Naomi says:

"I joined the Department of English and Comparative Literature relatively recently, but my experience so far is that everybody is so friendly and generous with their time. It feels like a very nurturing environment and a very thought-provoking one too – you can have such an interesting conversation over a cup of tea in the morning. The inaugural Goldsmiths Prize has certainly been a highlight so far in my half-a-year here. Its aim is to reward bravery, risk, ingenuity and experimentation in the contemporary novel. Going to the Prize reading and hearing Jim Crace and Ali Smith was an amazing experience. All the writers were playing with form, voice, language. It made me think about risk and experimentation in my seminars and students’ work, about the problems of teaching writing and rules, and also, about the role of more conservative forms of story-telling!"