{{short description|British novelist and short story writer (born 1971)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Use British English|date=October 2016}} '''Rachel Seiffert''' (born 1971) is a British novelist and short story writer.
== Biography == She was born in 1971 in Oxford<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1552142.stm|title=Seiffert: Important debut|publisher=BBC News|date=19 September 2001|accessdate=31 January 2010}}</ref> to German and Australian parents, and was brought up bilingually. She lives in London.<ref>[http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth03A30L020012634903 British Council of Contemporary writers]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070408033932/http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth03A30L020012634903 |date=8 April 2007 }} Rachel Seiffert</ref>
== Publications and awards == Seiffert has published six works of fiction to date:
''The Dark Room'' (2001) is a novel, shortlisted for the Booker Prize<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1340877/Bainbridge-fails-to-make-Booker-shortlist.html|title=Bainbridge fails to make Booker shortlist|date=18 September 2001|accessdate=31 January 2010|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London}}</ref> and the ''Guardian'' First Book Award in 2001, winner of the ''LA Times'' Prize for First Fiction and a Betty Trask Award in 2002.<ref>{{cite web|title=Society of Authors – Prizes, Grants and Awards|publisher=Society of Authors|accessdate=2009-01-18|url=http://www.societyofauthors.org/prizes-grants-and-awards/prizes-for-fiction-and-non-fiction/the_betty_trask_prize/betty_trask_past_winners.html|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503102735/http://www.societyofauthors.org/prizes-grants-and-awards/prizes-for-fiction-and-non-fiction/the_betty_trask_prize/betty_trask_past_winners.html |archivedate=3 May 2009}}</ref> The 2012 movie ''Lore'' by writer-director Cate Shortland is based on ''The Dark Room''.<ref>Taylor, Ella (7 February 2013) [https://www.npr.org/2013/02/07/171202770/lore-after-hitler-an-awakening-for-the-reichs-children "'Lore': After Hitler, An Awakening For The Reich's Children"], NPR.</ref>
''Field Study'' (2004) is a collection of short stories, one of which received an award from International PEN.
''Afterwards'' (2007) is a novel, long-listed for the Orange Prize for Fiction the same year.
''The Walk Home'' (2014) is a novel set in Glasgow about a family torn apart.
''A Boy in Winter'' (2017) is a novel set during the 1941 German invasion of the Ukraine during Operation Barbarossa.
''Once the Deed Is Done'' (2025) is a novel about the aftermath of WWII. It was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize in 2026.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-04-21 |title=Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2026 shortlist announced |url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2026/04/21/328075/walter-scott-prize-for-historical-fiction-2026-shortlist-announced/ |access-date=2026-04-22 |publisher=Books+Publishing}}</ref>
Seiffert was named as one of ''Granta'' magazine's 20 Best of Young British Novelists in 2003, and her short story "Field Study" was included in the subsequent collection.<ref>{{cite news|title=Sympathy for the squaddie|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3662830/Sympathy-for-the-squaddie.html|first=Lorna|last=Bradbury|date=28 January 2007|accessdate=31 January 2010|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London}}</ref>
In 2011, she received the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Her books have been translated into ten languages.
== Subjects == Seiffert's subject is the individual in history: how political and economic upheavals impact on ordinary lives. Her characters have included the 12-year-old daughter of an SS officer in 1945, a Polish seasonal worker on a German asparagus farm after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and a London painter and decorator who killed a civilian as a 19-year-old squaddie with the British Army in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.
== Bibliography ==
=== Novels === *''The Dark Room'' (2001) *''Afterwards'' (2007) *''The Walk Home'' (2014) *''A Boy in Winter'' (2017) *''Once the Deed Is Done'' (2025)
=== Short Story Collections === *''Field Study: Stories'' (2004)
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seiffert, Rachel}} Category:1971 births Category:Living people Category:Writers from Oxford Category:English women short story writers Category:English people of Australian descent Category:English people of German descent Category:21st-century English women novelists Category:21st-century English novelists Category:English women historical novelists Category:Writers of historical fiction set in the modern age