The Vice-Chancellor's Distinguished Lecture Series: Jonathan Coe

‘The Problem with Satire in a Post-Truth World’

Jonathan Coe is a multi-award-winning author and satirist, whose writing has been adapted for radio, TV and film. He has authored 11 novels including The Rotters’ Club, which was adapted for BBC television in 2005, and the internationally acclaimed political satire What a Carve Up!

Among Jonathan’s awards are the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger for What a Carve Up! in 1995, the Prix Médicis étranger for The House of Sleep in 1998, the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for The Rotters’ Club in 2001, and the Samuel Johnson Prize for Like a Fiery Elephant: The Story of B. S. Johnson in 2005. In 2004, he was made Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, an Order of France to recognise significant contribution to the arts, literature, or the propagation of these fields.

Born in Lickey, South Birmingham, Jonathan studied at King Edward’s School, Birmingham and Trinity College, Cambridge, going on to teach at the University of Warwick, where he completed an MA and PhD in English Literature.

This lecture forms part of the ‘The Vice-Chancellor’s Distinguished Lecture Series,’ which aims to reflect on the major social, scientific, cultural and policy issues of our time.