Animal Nightlife

Koushik Banerjea is a London-based writer and novelist. His debutnovel, Another Kind of Concrete, was published in 2020 by JacarandaBooks. His second novel, Category Unknown, was published by London Booksin 2022. AnimalNightlife won 2nd Prize in the 2023Novel London Literary Competition. His short stories and poetry have appeared in multiple magazinesincluding Minor Literatures, Writers Resist and Razur Cuts andhave been finalists for the London Independent Story Prize 2025, the REIGNPrize 2025 and the Jerry Jazz Musician Short Fiction Contest 2024.  He was a youth worker, journalist and DJbefore embarking upon his first two novels, written while he was the sole carerfor his late mother.

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR ANIMALNIGHTLIFE'Prose as languid as'Shangri-La' and as defiant as raisins in the flour... a strange, wonderful novel.'Andy Polaris, lead singer of Animal Nightlife PRAISE FOR CATEGORY UNKNOWN‘Deep-rooted andaudacious, this is anovel of great style and soul, from a stylish, soulful writer.'John King, author of The Football Factory‘A fascinating, multi-layered story of complexcharacters caught in a maelstrom of conflicting emotions as Britain moves intothe era of Thatcherism and beyond… Through his magnificently eloquent prose,keen nose for dialogue and natural talent for intricate, modern-daystorytelling, Banerjea seems to suggest that identity politics have been withus for longer than we might think – and that they’re gradually undermining everything that is good around us.’Morning Star‘A kaleidoscopic,exuberant journey across South London Badlands – and worse, during epochaldecades – told with lashings of Koushik Banerjea’s customary verve, wit andpassion. Simplyunmissable.’Asian Culture Vulture‘Thirty years ofLondon life in 350-odd pages… Category Unknown has everything! Banerjea’s novel sucks you in and placesyou on the streets, full of nervous energy, wide-eyed and confused, ascomplicated, real life goes on around you. Nothing here is certain... Anunsettling, engrossing read.’International Times‘By turns exquisitelydrawn and disturbing, Category Unknown is a novel with somethingimportant to say about where we've ended up now… This book somehow manages to make adistilled epic of its pop cultural subject and is both nerveless and unnervingin how it goes about this. It is funny, smart, sad and unresolved. The ghost ofSamuel Selvon would surely approve.’3AM Magazine‘With time comeshindsight, and Banerjea uses it here to reflect on cultural turning points,social patterns, and the imposter syndrome to which no one is immune… A denseand ambitious book.’Bookscover2coverPRAISE FOR ANOTHER KIND OF CONCRETE‘A story told witheloquence and a palpable joy in language, both English and Bengali. It’s alsobeautifully and evocatively multi-layered, shot through with subtle complexity…It’s adazzling debut that brilliantly explores the interconnections between race andclass and it deserves tobe read as widely as possible.’Morning Star‘Finally, we get aversion of 1970s London told from something other than a white perspective… Afantastic novel.’International Times