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Luke Kennard

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Luke Kennard


Born
Kingston Upon Thames, The United Kingdom
Genre
Poetry, Fiction


Luke Kennard is an award-winning poet and novelist. His literary criticism has appeared in the London Review of Books, Poetry London, and Times Literary Supplement. He lectures in Creative Writing at the University of Birmingham.

In 2014, he was named one of the ‘Next Generation Poets’ by the Poetry Book Society in their once-per-decade list. Cain, his collection of poetry, was shortlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize and described by Alan Hollinghurst as ‘the cleverest and funniest thing I’ve read this year’. Notes on the Sonnets, an anarchic response to Shakespeare’s sonnets, won the Forward prize for Best Poetry Collection in 2021.

Black Bag was shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2026.

Combine Editions

Average rating: 3.65 · 8,444 ratings · 1,748 reviews · 27 distinct works • Similar authors
Black Bag
3.70 avg rating — 6,006 ratings — published 2026 — 6 editions
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The Transition
3.39 avg rating — 1,527 ratings — published 2017 — 18 editions
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The Answer to Everything
3.15 avg rating — 313 ratings — published 2021 — 5 editions
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Notes on the Sonnets
3.92 avg rating — 160 ratings — published 2021 — 3 editions
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Cain
4.13 avg rating — 120 ratings — published 2016 — 2 editions
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The Harbour Beyond the Movie
4.14 avg rating — 73 ratings — published 2007 — 5 editions
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Holophin
3.90 avg rating — 69 ratings — published 2012 — 4 editions
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The Migraine Hotel
4.34 avg rating — 47 ratings — published 2009
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The Book of Jonah
4.25 avg rating — 32 ratings — 6 editions
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The Solex Brothers (Redux)
4.13 avg rating — 31 ratings — published 2007 — 5 editions
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More books by Luke Kennard…

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Quotes by Luke Kennard  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“He had a talismanic obsession with final pages. At school he would near a book's conclusion, whether it was pulp science fiction or The Return of the Native, with one hand firmly clamped over the ultimate paragraph, in case his eye lit on a single word which might rob the entire story of its point, spoil the answer to the riddle of why he was reading it. When he shared this with Genevieve, she admitted to him that she always started a book by reading its final page, that she still did, but she wasn't sure why.”
― Luke Kennard, The Transition
tags: books, ending, last-lines, last-page, luke-kennard, reading, reading-habits, rituals, the-transition
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“Worry gives a small thing a big shadow.”
― Luke Kennard, Black Bag
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“when damaged men have money and influence, that’s a problem for the whole world.”
― Luke Kennard, Black Bag
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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Crazy Challenge C...: Aromatherapy - CLOSED TO NEW SIGN-UPS 840 286 Mar 11, 2025 08:45PM  
What's the Name o...: Adult Dystopian Fiction. Couple (m+f, essay writer and schoolteacher) severely in debt enter a program to change their lives but it turns out to be disciplinarian and creepy, set in UK. 4 35 Jul 31, 2025 04:39PM  
2026 Reading Chal...: Joy's Gems 2026 56 19 Dec 31, 2025 12:07PM  
Catching up on Cl...: Janelle’s Buffet 2026 44 45 May 03, 2026 04:33PM  
Play Book Tag: Black Bag by Luke Kennard - 3 stars 1 8 Jul 29, 2026 10:59AM  
2026 Reading Chal...: Joy D's 326 in 2026 Personal Challenge 18 19 Sep 03, 2026 11:04AM  


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