George Harrison is a Norwich-based writer whose debut novel, Season centres around a fictionalised version of The Canaries. Ahead of a launch at the Book Hive, George explains how the novel is about male inarticulacy and the healing experience of being a football fan
What has led you to becoming a writer?
I have been writing professionally for around a decade – previously working in media before I started freelancing as a book editor and ghostwriter. I love literature, and I’ve always written fiction on the side of my day job. The ambition was to eventually publish a literary novel and have a career as a novelist…and here I am!
The National Centre for Writing has been a huge supporter of my work. I took part in the NCW’s Escalator Talent Development Programme from 2022-2023. This is a selective scheme which is designed to accelerate the progress of early-career writers based in the East of England. You get a year’s mentorship with an established author – in my case, Michael Donkor – and it was with the help of Michael’s mentorship that I developed the first draft of Season into the novel which will hit the shelves this week.
How would you describe your writing career so far?
Most of being a writer is hard and unglamorous work. Over the last ten years, I have spent literally thousands of hours hammering away at my laptop, working on drafts and stories which never made it to publication. While I’ve been lucky in that I’ve always been able to pay the rent with freelance or employed writing work, it’s the fiction writing which has sustained me for all those years. And I’m very pleased that all those hours are starting to pay off! So, I’d like to think that my writing career is only just getting started. Season is my first novel, and hopefully it won’t be the last.
Are you Norwich born and raised? What do you love about living here?
I actually grew up in the West Country, but I’ve always been a Norwich fan. When I was first getting into football, as an iconoclastic kid, I didn’t want to be boring and support any of the big, successful teams which my friends supported. Norwich happened to be bottom of the Premier League at the time, so I chose Norwich as my club.
Growing up, I watched all the games on TV and travelled to Carrow Road as often as I could. After the pandemic, I decided to move to Norwich because I had always loved the city and because of its strong literary influence. Norwich is a great place to live and a great place to be a writer. I love the creative buzz of the city; I love the beautiful old buildings; I love how underrated Norwich is; and I love being able to walk to Carrow Road – rather than take a four-hour train journey!
What is your debut novel, Season, all about? Are you an NCFC season ticket holder by any chance?
Season is a literary novel about loneliness, male inarticulacy and the maddening, healing and unifying experience of being a football fan. It’s not explicitly about Norwich City, but it follows a football club which happens to play in canary yellow, and much of the novel is set in a historic city in the East of England…so readers can probably join a few dots. And yes, like my novel’s main characters, I am a season ticket holder. I stand in the Lower Barclay, C Block.
And how would you describe the book – each of the 38 chapters relates to a match?
Season takes place over the course of one Premier League season, with one chapter for each game. The action is mostly set in the stands, where we follow two unnamed supporters – the Old Man and the Young Man – in adjacent seats. Away from the ground, the Young Man is trying to nurture a precarious relationship, while the Old Man is desperately worried about the health and wellbeing of his wife. As the season goes on, and as the team fights to stay in the division, these two strangers strike up a slow, tentative but also very affirming friendship – and it’s this experience of human connection which is really at the heart of the novel.
How easy/difficult has it been to write a fictionalised version of a real football club?
I don’t use any names in Season, which probably makes it a lot easier, and although I borrowed a few inspirations, I deliberately tweaked and twisted various details as I went along. There are no “real” people in the novel, although a few of the players are based very loosely on Norwich players from the recent past.
Over the course of my life, I have spent so many hours watching football, so I had a vast reserve of experiences to draw from. I think that made it fairly easy to put together a convincing depiction of a fictional football club.
What is happening at the Book Hive on Thursday and what can people expect on the night? How does it feel to be interviewed by D J Taylor?
On Thursday 9th January, we’re doing a launch event for Season at The Book Hive in Norwich. I’ll give a short reading and talk a little bit about how the book came to be – plus I’ll take questions and sign any copies bought on the night.
As you say, I’ll be in conversation with D.J. Taylor – a great local author and a titan of the Norwich literary scene (as well as a fellow NCFC fanatic). I’m sure we’ll have an interesting chat about football, literature and everything in-between, and I look forward to talking to David – and to readers – about the novel!
How can people find out more about the event and get hold of the book?
The event is free, but I encourage anyone who wants to come to reserve a ticket on the “events” section of the Book Hive’s website. All the details are there, but the headline is: Book Hive, 9th January, 6:30pm.
We’ll be selling signed copies on the night, but the book will also be available wherever you usually buy your reading material.
What is next for you, writing wise?
Here’s an exclusive for you: I have already drafted my next novel, although it probably needs a little bit more work before it’s ready to be released into the world. It’s a literary love story which plays around with form, and although it’s very different from Season, there’s a little footballing flavour in there as well. I’m also scratching away at something very experimental which will probably never see the light of day, but who knows! Watch this space!
George Harrison will be in conversation with D J Taylor at the The Book Hive on Thursday January 9, 2025, at 6.30pm. Season by George Harrison is published by Lightning Books (the fiction imprint of Eye Books).
Featured images – supplied by George Harrison
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