Luke Jennings (born 1953[1]) is a British author, dance critic and journalist.

Jennings trained as a dancer at the Rambert School, was one of the students of the Expressionist and Integrated dance pedagoge Hilde Holger,[2] studied Indian languages, and produced and directed a Channel 4 documentary filmed in Bombay.[3]

As a journalist, Jennings has written for Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, and has reported from locations around the world, including Moscow.[1] He was dance critic for The Observer[4] and also wrote dance-related articles for Time.[5][6]

Published works

Jennings' first novel, Breach Candy (1993), follows a recently retired ballerina and an intelligent-but-wounded television director researching a Channel 4 documentary in Mumbai.[3]

Jennings' novel, Atlantic (1995), which takes place in a cruise ship in the post-war years,[7] was nominated for the Booker Prize.[8]

Beauty Story (1998) is a novel about a young actress who vanishes from a 16th-century English castle where she was filming a fragrance commercial.[9]

The acknowledgements section in At Risk (2004) by Stella Rimington indicates that it was written with the help of Luke Jennings: "Huge thanks are also due to Luke Jennings whose help with the research and the writing made it all happen."[10]

Blood Knots: Of Fathers, Friendship and Fishing—a 2010 memoir about fishing, and about "childhood innocence, paternal love, and his friendship with the charismatic, enigmatic" man who was later killed by the IRA while working as an intelligence officer in Ireland[11]—was shortlisted for the 2010 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize[12] and for the William Hill prize.[8]

With his daughter, Jennings co-wrote the Stars youth fiction series (circa 2013), about teenagers at a performing arts school.[13]

Jennings co-authored The Faber Pocket Guide to Ballet (2014).[8]

Jennings' 2017 book Codename Villanelle, a compilation of four serial Kindle edition novellas published between 2014 and 2016,[14][15][16][17] was the basis for BBC America's Killing Eve television series.[18] Though his 2018 sequel Killing Eve: No Tomorrow diverged from the television show, the books and show are said to "share common DNA" because of Jennings' continued collaboration with the show's creators.[19] A third volume of the Villanelle series, Killing Eve: Die For Me, was released on 19 March 2020.[20]

‘’Lifelines-An Anthology of Angling Anecdotes, and More…‘’ NAROD Publishing, 2021. A collection of 27 short stories concerning angling by 27 different authors, including “Homecoming” by Luke Jennings.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Hodges, Michael (20 August 2018). "Killing Eve author: 'I want people to be appalled by Jodie Comer's Villanelle – but also cheer her on'". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 29 April 2019.
  2. ^ Jennings, Luke (27 June 2010). "Amici Dance Theatre Company: Tightrope; Richard Alston Dance Company: Upclose". The Observer. Archived from the original on 27 September 2018.
  3. ^ a b Lezard, Nicholas (23 May 1993). "Book Review / Bombay walkie-talkie: Breach Candy - Luke Jennings: Hutchinson, 14.99 pounds". The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 April 2019.
  4. ^ "Luke Jennings (profile)". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 March 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  5. ^ Jennngs, Luke (2 April 2008). "Wayne McGregor: Mind in Motion". Time. Archived from the original on 3 September 2016.
  6. ^ Jennings, Luke (20 August 2008). "Dance with the Devil". Time. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016.
  7. ^ Pai, Akshay (7 May 2018). "How a slew of "embittered male loners" allowed author Luke Jennings the room to create the gripping characters of Killing Eve". Media Entertainment Arts Worldwide. Archived from the original on 24 April 2019.
  8. ^ a b c Cowdrey, Katherine (6 April 2017). "John Murray snaps up spy thriller first published as Kindle Single". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018.
  9. ^ ""Beauty Story"". Publishers Weekly. 1 June 1998. Archived from the original on 23 April 2019.
  10. ^ Stella Rimington, At Risk; Arrow, 2005, p456
  11. ^ Redfern, Simon (18 April 2010). "Blood Knots, by Luke Jennings - review". The Independent. Archived from the original on 24 April 2019.
  12. ^ Adams, Stephen (2 July 2010). "BBC Samuel Johnson Prize won by book that shows real life in North Korea". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 24 June 2012.
  13. ^ "Luke Jennings". Goodreads. 2017. Archived from the original on 6 July 2017.
  14. ^ "Codename Villanelle (Villanelle #1)". Goodreads. Archived from the original on 20 April 2018.
  15. ^ "Villanelle: Hollowpoint (Villanelle #2)". Goodreads. Archived from the original on 9 July 2017.
  16. ^ "Villanelle: Shanghai (Villanelle #3)". Goodreads. Archived from the original on 6 July 2017.
  17. ^ "Odessa (Villanelle #4)". Goodreads. Archived from the original on 9 July 2017.
  18. ^ Canfield, David (25 March 2019). "How the Killing Eve story is evolving in the original book series". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 12 April 2019.
  19. ^ Igoe, Katherine J.; Mitchell, Amanda (7 April 2019). "The Final Killing Eve Season 2 Trailer Has Dropped". Marie Claire. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019.
  20. ^ Knight, Lewis (30 July 2019). "Will Killing Eve season 3 be the last? Books to end next year with Endgame". Daily Mirror. Archived from the original on 31 July 2019.

External links

Killing Eve
Authority control databases
Categories