Alex Niven lives in Newcastle upon Tyne. He writes regularly for the Guardian, Tribune and New Statesman, and has also contributed to publications including the New York Times, the Independent, Pitchfork, The Face and VICE. As well as Folk Opposition (Zero, 2011), he is the author of an instalment in Bloomsbury’s 33 1/3 series (on Definitely Maybe by Oasis, 2014) and New Model Island (Repeater, 2019), a critically acclaimed memoir of Englishness and regional identity. Currently Lecturer in English Literature at Newcastle University, he helped to start the radical publisher Repeater Books in 2014.
Incorporating sharp questions and big ideas, Niven shifts deftly between history, politics, culture and literature to offer a fascinating and provocative analysis of the marginalisation of the North. -- Madeleine Bunting, author of Labours of Love: the Crisis of Care Alex Niven’s elegant, heartfelt book is the best I have read about the North’s subordination by the South in modern England, and about how visionary northern culture of all kinds has defied that imbalance. -- Andy Beckett, Guardian journalist Alex Niven reveals the north of England in all its variety, potential and vitality. One Nation Under a Groove in book form. -- Lynsey Hanley, author of Respectable: Crossing the Class Divide A bold, compelling attempt to imagine a new future for England's industrial north by looking at its cultural and progressive past. -- John McTernan * Financial Times * The North Will Rise Again is thought-provoking, evocative, tenderly appreciative and optimistic. -- Katherine Backler * The Tablet *