Sillitoe, Alan

Sillitoe, Alan

(born March 4, 1928, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Eng.) English writer. The son of a tannery worker, he worked in factories from age 14. Many of his later novels and stories are brash and angry accounts of working-class life, beginning with his successful first novel, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1958; film, 1960). Perhaps his best-known work is the title story in the collection The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner (1959; film, 1962). His other works include the novels The Death of William Posters (1965), The Widower's Son (1976), and The Open Door (1989) and the story collections The Ragman's Daughter (1963; film, 1974) and Second Chance (1981).