Modern Gods

Nick Laird was born in Northern Ireland and studied at Cambridge and Harvard. He has published two novels, Utterly Monkey and Glover’s Mistake, and three collections of poetry, To a Fault, On Purpose, and Go Giants. He is the recipient of many awards for his fiction and poetry, including the Betty Trask Prize, the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, and the Somerset Maugham Award. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a 2016 Guggenheim Fellow, he teaches in the creative writing program at New York University.

‘Modern Gods is an exceptional work of literature. It also fulfils its duty as a corrective to our collective idiocy by reminding us what we’ve forgotten: at bedrock, it says, we’re all just confused, lonely, yearning, terrified of death and desperate for love.’ Irish Times'Brilliantly observed, tense, dark and funny' Graham Norton‘Laird dazzles ear and eye with his kinetic prose … With a mere flick of description, Laird summons vast stretches of politics and history.’ Jennifer Egan, New York Times‘Finely etched, impeccably structured, Modern Gods has the enduring echoes of a classic.’ BBC‘Modern Gods has realer-than-real characters, unexpected turns of plot into unknown corners of the world, and language that finds its way through the darkest moments and states of mind to shine its clear bright light, revelatory and unforgiving.’ Michael Chabon‘Ferociously intelligent, radically contemporary, deeply affecting, stunning.’ Matthew Thomas‘Nick Laird takes two experiences poles apart and unites them in gorgeous language, with the same fierce tenderness as he employs in his poetry. It’s about families, tribes, peoples – and if you’re a member of any of those you’ll find a home both strange and familiar in this story.’ Dave Eggers‘Laird’s overarching concern, for individuals trapped by politics and religion, carries Modern Gods along on a tide of vigorous compassion.’ The Times‘With Modern Gods, Laird marks himself out as a first-rate novelist.’ Alex Preston, Financial Times‘Laird has given us a richly textured geography of the human need to believe in something, and of the stories, religious and secular, we live by.’ Guardian‘Ambitious and unnervingly funny.’ Mail on Sunday‘His most assured work of fiction to date…Modern Gods shows him to be as equally a gifted writer of fiction as he is of poetry…hugely enjoyable.’ Sunday Times