{{Short description|British novelist (1946–2025)}} {{Use British English|date=October 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}} {{Infobox writer | name = Marina Lewycka<br>{{nobold|Марина Левицька}} | image = Marina Lewycka's live chat (7523107336).jpg | caption = Lewycka live chats from London in 2012 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1946|10|12}} | birth_place = Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2025|11|11|1946|10|12}} | death_place = London, England{{Citation needed|date=November 2025}} | alma_mater = Keele University; University of York | years_active = 2005–2020 | notable_works= ''A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian'' | awards = Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize; Waverton Good Read Award }}
'''Marina Lewycka''' ({{IPAc-en|l|ɛ|ˈ|v|ɪ|t|s|k|ə}} {{respell|Le|VITZ|ka}}; 12 October 1946 – 11 November 2025) was a Ukrainian-British lecturer and novelist.<ref name="guardianobit">{{Cite news |last=Loffhagen |first=Emma |date=2025-11-13 |title=Marina Lewycka, British-Ukrainian author, dies aged 79 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/nov/13/marina-lewycka-british-ukrainian-author-dies-aged-79 |access-date=2025-11-13 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-03-19 |title=Marina Lewycka on the ambiguities of being Ukrainian |url=https://www.rashmee.com/marina-lewycka-on-the-ambiguities-of-being-ukrainian/ |access-date=2025-11-13 |website=Rashmee Roshan Lall |quote=On her website, British Ukrainian novelist Marina Lewycka offers some observations on eastern Ukraine, to which her family belongs.}}</ref> Her 2005 debut comic novel, ''A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian'', was translated into over 30 languages.
==Early life and education== Lewycka was born in a refugee camp in Kiel on 12 October 1946. Her family subsequently moved to England; she lived in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. She attended Gainsborough High School for Girls in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, then Witney Grammar School in Witney, Oxfordshire.<ref name="times obit">{{Cite news |date=14 November 2025 |title=Marina Lewycka obituary: prizewinning British-Ukrainian novelist |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/marina-lewycka-obituary-prizewinning-british-ukrainian-novelist-b7lwp6glr |access-date=15 November 2025 |work=The Times}}</ref> She graduated from Keele University in 1968 with a BA degree in English and Philosophy, and from the University of York with a BPhil in English Literature in 1969.<ref>{{cite journal | title = From Tractors to Caravans | journal = Grapevine | issue = Autumn 2007 | pages = 17 | publisher = Alumni Office, University of York }}</ref> She began, but did not complete, a PhD at King's College London.{{Citation needed|date=November 2025}}
==Career== Lewycka was a lecturer in media studies at Sheffield Hallam University until her retirement in March 2012.<ref name="BCLit">{{cite web |title=Marina Lewycka |url=https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/marina-lewycka |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160115212748/https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/marina-lewycka |archive-date=15 January 2016 |access-date=15 November 2025 |website=British Council Literature |publisher=British Council}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shu.ac.uk/news/release.html?ID=1057|title=Best-selling book would not exist without master's course|date=14 March 2012|publisher=Sheffield Hallam University|access-date=15 March 2012|archive-date=3 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303222243/http://www.shu.ac.uk/mediacentre/best-selling-book-would-not-exist-without-masters-course|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Works== Lewycka's debut novel ''A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian'' won the 2005 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for comic writing at the Hay literary festival,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4613101.stm | title=Debut novelist takes comic prize | date=6 June 2005 | publisher=BBC | access-date=26 October 2017 | url-status=bot: unknown | archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120712004925/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4613101.stm | archivedate=12 July 2012}}</ref> the 2005/6 Waverton Good Read Award,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bolton |first=Gina |date=14 November 2025 |title=British-Ukrainian author Marina Lewycka dies |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3k0w4jvxno |access-date=15 November 2025 |work=BBC}}</ref> and the 2005 Saga Award for Wit;<ref name="BCLit"/> it was long-listed for the 2005 Man Booker Prize<ref>[http://www.themanbookerprize.com/prize/archive/38 Man Booker Prize 2005] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512200755/http://www.themanbookerprize.com/prize/archive/38 |date=12 May 2008 }}</ref> and short-listed for the 2005 Orange Prize for Fiction.<ref name="BCLit"/><ref>{{Cite news |last=Ezard |first=John |date=6 June 2005 |title=Bubbly and share of pig for winner of Wodehouse prize |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/jun/06/books.hayfestival2005 |access-date=15 November 2025 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> The novel has been translated into 35 languages.<ref>[http://www.amheath.com/pages/titles/view.asp?id=544 Translations of ''A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian''] {{dead link|date=July 2011|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>
Her second novel ''Two Caravans'' was published in hardback in March 2007 by Fig Tree (an imprint of Penguin Books) for the United Kingdom market, and was short-listed for the 2008 Orwell Prize for political writing.<ref>[http://www.theorwellprize.co.uk/the-award/short-books.aspx?year=294 The Orwell Prize Shortlist 2008] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090307012915/http://www.theorwellprize.co.uk/the-award/short-books.aspx?year=294 |date=7 March 2009 }}</ref> In the United States and Canada it is published under the title ''Strawberry Fields''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Strawberry Fields |url=https://bac-lac.on.worldcat.org/oclc/173240062?lang=en |access-date=15 November 2025 |website=Aurora |publisher=Library and Archives Canada}}</ref><ref name="times obit"/>
Lewycka's third novel, ''We Are All Made of Glue'', was released in July 2009, and her fourth novel, ''Various Pets Alive and Dead'', came out in March 2012. Her fifth novel, published in 2016, was ''The Lubetkin Legacy'', named after Berthold Lubetkin, the Georgian-born modernist architect, who built popular housing with the slogan: "Nothing is too good for ordinary people". ''The Lubetkin Legacy'' was shortlisted for the Bollinger Woodhouse Everyman for Comic Fiction prize.
In 2009, Lewycka donated the short story "The Importance of Having Warm Feet" to Oxfam's ''Ox-Tales'' project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the 'Earth' collection.<ref>[http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/content/books/books_oxtales.html Oxfam: Ox-Tales] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090520182004/http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/content/books/books_oxtales.html |date=20 May 2009 }}</ref> Later the same year, she donated a second short story, "Business Philosophy", to the Amnesty International anthology ''Freedom: Short Stories Celebrating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-10-06 |title=Marina Lewycka {{!}} The Short Story Project |url=https://shortstoryproject.com/writers/marina-lewycka/ |access-date=2025-01-13 |language=en-US}}</ref>
In 2020, Lewycka released the novel ''The Good, the Bad and the Little Bit Stupid''.<ref name="Financial Times - 13 March 2020 The Good, the Bad and the Little Bit Stupid — a European crime caper">{{cite web |last1=Skidelsky |first1=William |title=The Good, the Bad and the Little Bit Stupid — a European crime caper |url=https://www.ft.com/content/193b61da-595c-11ea-abe5-8e03987b7b20 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221211221233/https://www.ft.com/content/193b61da-595c-11ea-abe5-8e03987b7b20 |archive-date=11 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=31 August 2022 |work=Financial Times |date=13 March 2020 }}</ref> A review of the book in ''The Spectator'' noted that its commentary on Brexit and organ trafficking "seem not so much disparate as random".<ref name="The Observer - 29 February 2020- Marina Lewycka's The Good, the Bad and the Little Bit Stupid is completely bonkers">{{cite news |last1=Walton |first1=James |title=Marina Lewycka's The Good, the Bad and the Little Bit Stupid is completely bonkers |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/marina-lewycka-s-the-good-the-bad-and-the-little-bit-stupid-is-completely-bonkers |access-date=31 August 2022 |newspaper=The Observer |date=29 February 2020}}</ref>
In addition to her fiction, Lewycka wrote a number of books giving practical advice for carers of elderly people, published by the charity Age Concern.
==Death== Lewycka died on 11 November 2025, at the age of 79, while suffering from multiple system atrophy.<ref name="guardianobit"/><ref name="times obit" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{British council|id=marina-lewycka|name=Marina Lewycka}} with complete bibliography, list of awards and critical perspective * [http://derbyshire.greatbritishlife.co.uk/article/a-short-history-of-tractors-in-ukrainian-marina-lewycka-author-12506/ In depth biographical article] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305234640/http://derbyshire.greatbritishlife.co.uk/article/a-short-history-of-tractors-in-ukrainian-marina-lewycka-author-12506/ |date=5 March 2012 }} at ''Derbyshire Life'' magazine website * [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/may/31/hay2007authors.guardianhayfestival "Better Late Than Never"], Interview by Stephen Moss, ''The Guardian'', 31 May 2007. Retrieved on 31 May 2007 * [http://www.threemonkeysonline.com/printable.php?id=224 Three Monkeys Interview] * [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4613101.stm Debut Novelist Takes Comic Prize] about her winning the Bollinger for ''A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian'' * [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/mar/19/featuresreviews.guardianreview20 Review of ''A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian''], Guardian, 19 March 2005 * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110616071242/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/fiction/article1545415.ece Review of ''Two Caravans''], TimesOnLine, 25 March 2007 * [https://www.theguardian.com/education/2008/jul/15/academicexperts.highereducation Interview in the ''Guardian''], 15 July 2008 * [https://web.archive.org/web/20091112172319/http://www.theinterviewonline.co.uk/library/books/marina-lewycka-interview.aspx Marina Lewycka talks about ''We are all Made of Glue''] on The Interview Online * {{IMDb name|3166500}} * {{discogs artist|Marina Lewycka}} * [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/dec/02/marina-lewycka-posthumous-winner-of-winners-vintage-bollinger-wodehouse-prize-comic-fiction-rosanna-pike Marina Lewycka posthumously named ‘winner of winners’ of Wodehouse prize for comic fiction] in The Guardian 2 December 2025
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewycka, Marina}} Category:1946 births Category:2025 deaths Category:21st-century English novelists Category:Academics of Sheffield Hallam University Category:Alumni of Keele University Category:Alumni of King's College London Category:Alumni of the University of York Category:English people of Ukrainian descent Category:Deaths from multiple system atrophy Category:People educated at Queen Elizabeth's High School Category:Ukrainian emigrants to the United Kingdom Category:Ukrainian women writers Category:Writers from Sheffield Category:Neurological disease deaths in England Category:21st-century English women novelists