Graham Swift

Graham Colin Swift FRSL (born 4 May 1949) is an English writer. Born in London, England, he was educated at Dulwich College, London, Queens' College, Cambridge, and later the University of York.
Some of Swift's books have been filmed, including "Waterland" (1992), "Shuttlecock" (1993) and "Last Orders" (1996). His novel "Last Orders" was joint-winner of the 1996 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction and a mildly controversial winner of the 1996 Booker Prize, owing to the similarities in plot to William Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying".
The prize-winning "Waterland" is set in The Fens. A novel of landscape, history and family, it is often cited as one of the outstanding post-war British novels and has been a set text on the English literature syllabus in British schools. Writer Patrick McGrath asked Swift about the "feeling for magic" in "Waterland" during an interview. Swift responded that "The phrase everybody comes up with is "magic realism", which I think has now become a little tired. But on the other hand there’s no doubt that English writers of my generation have been very much influenced by writers from outside who in one way or another have got this magical, surreal quality, such as Borges, Márquez, Grass, and that that has been stimulating. I think in general it’s been a good thing. Because we are, as ever, terribly parochial, self-absorbed and isolated, culturally, in this country. It’s about time we began to absorb things from outside."
Swift was acquainted with Ted Hughes and has himself published poetry, some of which is included in "Making an Elephant: Writing from Within" (2009)..
Adaptations.
"Waterland" was adapted into a film of the same name in 1992. The film was directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal and starred Ethan Hawke, Jeremy Irons, and Sinéad Cusack.
In 2017, it was announced that Swift's novel "Mothering Sunday" was being optioned by Film4 with the adaptation to be written by Alice Birch.