Nathan Filer

Mental conditions can be as confusing and disabling as physical ones but, not infrequently, those fated to suffer such conditions also have a remarkably robust, upbeat, and affirming human spirit that sees them through. And their story can be both serious and humorous inspiration to all, especially when told by a prize-winning writer.

Sometime super stand-up poet, mental health nurse, lecturer in Creative Writing, and film maker, Nathan Filer is now a prize-winning novelist. His first book of prose, The Shock of the Fall, has not only won the Costa First Novel Award but also the Costa Book of the Year Award for 2014. His manuscript for the book was the subject of an eleven-way bidding war between publishers and has now been translated and published in twelve countries, including Israel, from where Nathan was once deported for reasons of national security. But he’s always welcome in Swindon!