Anthony Cartwright was born in Dudley, West Midlands, in 1973.

He studied English and American literature at the University of East Anglia, and taught first in East London and now in Nottinghamshire.

His first novel, The Afterglow (2004), a family drama set in the Black Country, won a 2004 Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn-Rhys Memorial Prize, The James Tait Black Memorial Prize (for fiction) and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (Eurasia Region, First Novel).

His second novel, Heartland (2009), a novel about football and the threat of the far-right in a Midlands local election campaign, was adapted for BBC Book at Bedtime and was shortlisted for the 2010 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (Eurasia Region, Best Book).

In 2012 his third novel, How I Killed Margaret Thatcher, was published. His latest novel, Iron Towns, published by Serpent’s Tail in 2016 is a stunning portrayal of Britain, set against the backdrop of an ageing footballer at a struggling football team, marks his place as one of the best young writers in Britain today.