Best-selling Marina returns to where it all began

A retired Sheffield Hallam University lecturer, whose career as a best-selling author began at the University, will return next week to celebrate her career and launch her latest novel.

Marina Lewycka, best known for her book A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, will take part in an 'in conversation' event at the University's Peak Lecture Theatre on Tuesday 13 March.

A retired Sheffield Hallam University lecturer, whose career as a best-selling author began at the University, will return next week to celebrate her career and launch her latest novel.

Marina Lewycka, best known for her book A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, will take part in an 'in conversation' event at the University's Peak Lecture Theatre on Tuesday 13 March.

Until she retired at the end of last year Marina, who lives in Sheffield but was born in Kiel, Germany, was a media studies lecturer at Sheffield Hallam.  

She wrote her best-selling novel A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian while studying a part-time master's in creative writing at the University. One of her external examiners, who marked the book, was a literary agent and encouraged her to pursue getting the book published.

Since the book came out in 2005 it has sold more than 900,000 copies worldwide and is currently the 46th best-selling book of all time, according to Nielsen Bookscan.

Her latest novel, Various Pets Alive and Dead, is partly set in Sheffield and tells the story of Serge, a City trader, who grew up in a commune in South Yorkshire and daren't tell his parents or his sisters about his new job.         

Marina, who plans to spend her retirement writing, said: "I am looking forward to returning to Sheffield Hallam, where I spent a very happy number of years lecturing and studying. It is also the place my writing career really took off, so it's fitting that I should launch my latest book there."

For press information: contact Tess Humphrys on 0114 225 4025 or email pressoffice@shu.ac.uk