In 2003 Jonathan was nominated by the Times Literary Supplement as one of the UK鈥檚 20 best young novelists. In the following year he received the Royal Literary Fund鈥檚 JB Priestley Award, given annually to the year鈥檚 most promising young writer. The Royal Literary Fund Fellowship scheme places professional writers in the UK鈥檚 higher education institutions to offer writing support. Jonathan will work one-to-one with students. Jonathan said: 鈥淚 leapt at the chance to do this. I was offered the opportunity to work in a number of Universities and chose 海角直播. I鈥檝e always liked the area and the University is flourishing. I鈥檓 looking forward to reaching out to 海角直播鈥檚 diverse student population at all levels and subjects, from part-time to postgraduate, from electronics to physiotherapy. 鈥淚 can remember agonising about how to write an essay when I was at University. You have all the information but need to put it together, within a time limit. It took me many years to learn how to avoid the pitfalls; hopefully my experiences will benefit the students.鈥� Rachel Carroll, Section Leader for English Studies said: 鈥淚 am delighted to welcome Jonathan to the University as our Royal Literary Fund Fellow. He will be joining a dynamic creative community in the School of Arts and Media. I am sure that students will benefit tremendously from Jonathan's experience and insights as a professional novelist.鈥�
Jonathan is originally from Cumbria and studied Philosophy and English in York. Before becoming a full-time novelist he worked as an actor and then taught English to Secondary pupils in Gateshead for three years, which provided the inspiration for The Season Ticket. He has also lived in South Africa for a year, where he wrote a play about South African history. This play was performed by teenagers and toured the South African townships.