Nathan Filer

I'm an award-winning writer and a lecturer in creative writing.

My novel The Shock of the Fall – which describes the life of a young man with schizophrenia – was published in 2013 to wide critical acclaim. It won The Costa Book of the Year, The Betty Trask Prize, The National Book Award for Popular Fiction and The Writers’ Guild Award for Best First Novel. It was a Sunday Times Bestseller and has been translated into thirty languages.

I've contributed essays, feature articles and reviews to The New York Times, The Guardian, The Independent, Daily Mail and Metro. And have been a panelist on the BBC radio 2 Book Club; BBC radio 3’s Free Thinking; and BBC radio 4’s Open Book, Front Row, All in the Mind and the Today Programme. Here's my TEDx talk.

My poetry has been broadcast on BBC radio 4’s Bespoken Word and Wondermentalist Cabaret, and BBC radio 7’s Poetry Stand-up. In 2005 my poetry short film Oedipus won the BBC Best New Filmaker Award and Berlin’s Zebra Poetry Film Award.

In 2017 I wrote and presented a BBC radio 4 documentary about portrayals of mental illness in the media.

I hold an Honorary Doctorate of Liberal Arts from Abertay University, conferred in recognition of my contribution to mental health care and raising awareness through literature.

I'm currently a Reader in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University and am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.