Maggie Gee is an English novelist. She is best known for her nuanced portrayal of themes such as climate change, racism, the complexities of human relationships, and the impact of societal and environmental challenges on future generations. Among her notable works are The White Family, shortlisted for the 2003 Orange Prize and the International Dublin Literary Award, and her latest novel, The Red Children (2022), about migration and climate change.
Maggie Mary Gee was born in Poole, UK. She grew up in the Midlands and Sussex and attended state schools. She won a scholarship to Somerville College, Oxford, and completed an MA in English literature. Later, Gee achieved an MLitt on Surrealism.
After university, Maggie Gee worked in publishing and then as a research assistant at Wolverhampton Polytechnic, where she completed a Ph.D. in The Self-Conscious Novel from Sterne to Vonnegut.
Gee has published 14 novels, a collection of short stories, and a memoir. Her seventh novel, The White Family, was shortlisted for the 2003 Orange Prize and the International Dublin Literary Award.
Maggie Gee is a professor of creative writing at Bath Spa University and has served in various prestigious literary roles, including the first female chair of the Royal Society of Literature (RSL) from 2004 to 2008. In 2012, she was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to literature.
Gee writes in a modernist tradition characterized by political and social awareness, an affectionate view of characters, and a non-ironic appreciation of the natural world.
Evolutionary biology has influenced her writing, which is why her novels often explore the impact of climate change on society. Where Are the Snows (1991), The Ice People (1998), and The Flood (2004) all deal with the effects of climate change on future scenarios. The White Family (2002) and My Cleaner (2005) address racism from different perspectives.
Her latest book, The Red Children (2022), takes place in the 2030s in Ramsgate. The story is about Neanderthals, the climate change refugees of 35,000 years ago, who appear in the present, now fleeing global warming, on the south coast of the UK. As more of these "Red People" arrive, the local community reacts differently.
Maggie Gee resides in Ramsgate with her husband, the writer and broadcaster Nicholas Rankin, and their daughter Rosa.
Photo credit: Geraint Lewis
