Adelle Stripe – författare

Shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and Portico Prize for Literature'As funny and sad as anything by Dunbar herself' Observer, Books of the Year'One of the great debut novels of the century, and one of my very favourite books ever.' David PeaceThey used to say I had a chip on my shoulder. Whatever that means. I couldn't ever work that out but I know I always felt that I wasn't as good as other people. I was angry. Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile tells the story of the tragically short life of playwright Andrea Dunbar. Interweaving fact and fiction, letters and scripts, newspaper stories and memory, Adelle Stripe reveals how a shy teenage girl defied the circumstances into which she was born, and the prejudice she met, to become one of her generation's greatest dramatists...Set against the backdrop of the infamous Buttershaw estate in Bradford during the Thatcher era, this is an exhilarating and unforgettable account of an extraordinary woman's life, her tragedies and her triumphs. Praise for Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile'Snaps and prickles and brings a talented, troubled woman to life. [Stripe] gives an important story a real spark: Dunbar's energy and mischief bubble in the bleakness' Guardian'The author's voice and Dunbar's mingle to create not just a portrait of an artist - funny, mischievous, reckless and truthful - but also divisions of class, geography and opportunity which continue to shape this country' Spectator

Writing is the hardest thing I've done. It's a grind. You see me up here and you think I've made it. But it's not all it's cracked up to be. The Beacon, Buttershaw 1990. Andrea Dunbar, acclaimed writer of Rita, Sue, and Bob Too, mum, sister, best friend, is struggling with her latest work. Her aching head is full of voices, stories from her past which have to be heard…A bittersweet tale of the north/south divide, it reveals how a shy teenage girl defied the circumstances into which she was born and went on to become one of her generation's greatest dramatists.Adelle Stripe’s ‘outstanding debut novel’ of Andrea Dunbar’s life is adapted for the stage by Lisa Holdsworth. This edition was published to coincide with the stage premiere at the Ambassador Theatre, Bradford in May 2019.

A Telegraph Best Book of 2025'Ingenious' - ★★★★★ Telegraph'Candid and compelling' - Guardian'Wistful, sad and funny' - Spectator'Working-class life pinned to the page' - Herald'Already your future has been planned out. There is not much choice about what to become in the small town where you live . . .'A bedroom dreamer with a headful of Warhol, Adelle Stripe's formative years were ones of daytime drinking and religious fervour, frustrated mothers and reckless daughters, desire, ambition and the pursuit of creativity. Told through a prism of vintage perfumes, and played out in vivid detail with startling clarity and colour, Base Notes chronicles an unbridled Northern England of the late 20th century already fading from view.With a keen eye for the absurd, an ear cocked to eavesdropped conversations and a nose that finds perfume wherever it goes, this tragicomic tale of working-class womanhood is no clichéd story of redemption or escape, but instead a bleakly funny yet unflinching memoir of dead-end jobs, lost weekends, brief encounters and those wild, forgotten characters who slip through the cracks.Infused with acerbic observations and unexpected poignancy, Base Notes sees Adelle Stripe boldly laying her lived experience on the page, creating literature from a life less ordinary.

A TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR - Told with warmth, wit and unflinching humour, BASE NOTES shares an alternative confessional of Northern working-class life in the 1980s'Candid and compelling' GUARDIAN'Deeply evocative' Wendy Erskine'A small, bleak masterpiece' Chris Power, OBSERVER'Poignant and grimly hilarious' DAZEDA bedroom dreamer with a headful of Warhol, Adelle Stripe's formative years were ones of daytime drinking and religious fervour, frustrated mothers and reckless daughters, predacious strangers and punk rock energy. Snapshots of wild abandon and dead-end jobs pepper this evocative tale of metamorphosis alongside a wry clear-eyed account of maternal conflict, compassion and, ultimately, acceptance. Told through a prism of vintage perfumes, Base Notes is a poetic, poignant and bleakly comic chronicle of one woman's coming of age in Northern England, an alternative confessional of working-class life in the closing years of the late twentieth century.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER & A ROUGH TRADE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022SHORTLISTED FOR THE PENDERYN MUSIC BOOK PRIZE'The story of a band that's always on the brink: of stardom, of madness, of brilliance, of disgrace' Miranda Sawyer, Observer'You begin to wonder why more biographies aren't tackled with such invention' Record Collector'This book is a rarity' Mark Lanegan'One of the finest music books in aeons' Kevin Barry'A bruising, exhilarating read, which captures the nihilistic energy of this strange and brilliant band' Independent'Destined to become a classic of the genre' Louder Than War'A fastidious portrait of chaos, displacement and bad acid' Mojo'Music book of the year? Already? Don't bet against it' Crack Magazine'Read it and writhe' Spider StaceyFrom the mountains of Algeria to the squats of South London via sectarian Northern Ireland, Ten Thousand Apologies is the sordid and thrilling story of the country's most notorious cult band, Fat White Family. Loved and loathed in equal measure since their formation in 2011, the relentlessly provocative, stunningly dysfunctional "drug band with a rock problem" have dedicated themselves to constant chaos and total creative freedom at all costs.Like a tragicomic penny dreadful dreamed up by a mutant hybrid of Jean Genet, the Dadaists and Mark E. Smith, the Fat Whites' story is a frequently jaw-dropping epic of creative insurrection, narcotic excess, mental illness, wanderlust, self-sabotage, fractured masculinity, and the ruthless pursuit of absolute art.Co-written with lucidity and humour by singer Lias Saoudi and acclaimed author Adelle Stripe, Ten Thousand Apologies is that rare thing: a music book that barely features any music, a biography as literary as any novel, and a confessional that does not seek forgiveness. This is the definitive account of Fat White Family's disgraceful and radiant jihad - a depraved, romantic and furious gesture of refusal to a sanitised era.