Rob Magnuson Smith

"[3] His second novel, Scorper, is a critically acclaimed, darkly comic tale of an emotionally unstable American who travels to Ditchling, Sussex, in an attempt to connect with his ancestral heritage, one that intertwines with the life and legacy of famed English artisan Eric Gill, a version of whom appears in the novel.

The Independent called Scorper 'An odd, original, darkly comic novel... a funny, unsettling read; Kafka crossed with Flann O'Brien,' and gave it four stars.

Most notably, in 2015, he became the first international author to win the Australian Book Review’s Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize, for "The Elector of Nossnearly.

[7] Smith's non-fiction has appeared in Granta and The Guardian among others, and he is a regular contributing editor for Playboy, with whom he has published investigative articles on Soviet-era primate hybridization experiments, the scientific search for alien life, and the San Francisco Bay Area book repository associated with the Internet Archive.

[8][9][10][11][12] Smith's short fiction is not limited to but includes the following: "The Elector of Nossnearly" (The Sunday Times, 2015) "Kettleman Point"[13] (The Clearing, 2015) "The Headhunter's Trumpet"[14] (Poor Yorick, 2014) "Inkberrow"[15] (The Literarian, 2013) "Second Skull"[16] (The Guardian) Smith's creative non-fiction is not limited to but includes the following: "The Best Book of 1901: The Octopus"[17] (Granta, 2015) "An English Village Needs its Pub"[18] (The Guardian, 2015) "Brewster's Ark"[19] (Playboy Magazine, 2013) "Beyond the Sky"[20] (Playboy Magazine, 2012) "Beckett Catches Buster"[21] (Projector Magazine) Smith's awards and nominations are not limited to but include the following: 2015 First Prize, Australian Book Review Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Award[6] 2015 Longlist, The Sunday Times EFG Short Story Prize[7] 2010-13 International Doctoral Research Fellow, Bath Spa University[22] 2009-10 David Higham Award in Creative Writing, University of East Anglia [1] 2004 Pirate's Alley William Faulkner Gold Medal, Best Novel, The Gravedigger[23]