Naomi Krüger

Naomi Krüger is a writer based in Lancashire. Her debut novel, May, (Seren, 2018) is partly narrated by a character with dementia and explores the complexity of memory from multiple perspectives. Her short fiction has been published in Wag’s Revue, commended by Aesthetica, shortlisted for the Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize, and commissioned for various anthologies.

In 2021 she was awarded an Eccles Centre Fellowship at the British Library to explore transatlantic connections of faith, conversion, and emigration in early Mormonism as research for her second novel. She has an MA and PhD from Lancaster University, and

is a Senior Lecturer in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Central Lancashire.

Books

Debut Novel

May

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The door to the past has been locked to May but fragments of memories still remain: a boy running on the green, his fiery hair, a letter without a stamp, a secret she promised not to tell. She can’t piece together the past or even make sense of the present, but she revisits what she knows again and again. The boy, the letter, the secret. She can’t grasp what they mean, but maybe the people she’s loved and lost can uncover the mystery of the red-headed boy and his connection to May.

Like memories, the book moves through the decades, weaving together the lives of May’s family and the woman who cares for her at the nursing home. Their recollections are linked by feelings of doubt, remorse and a sense that they are mourning the paths their lives could have taken. Aftershocks from the past reverberate in the present.

Naomi Kruger’s debut novel is a contemplative tale of what it means to carry the past with you and the power of letting it go.

'A rewarding read: an ambitious novel that speaks to our times.' – Wales Arts Review

'An exquisitely written novel.' – Jan Carson

'A triumph... contemporary, funny, relevant and personal.' – Buzz Magazine

'A deftly-written and highly moving account of the effects of dementia.' – Everybody's Reviewing

Short Fiction

May chosen as a 'much anticipated read of 2018' by Sam Read Books

Mon 22nd Aug 2022

In The News

Read an interview about my shortlisted story 'In My Father's House are Many Mansions' here.

Podcast Interview on a new short story 'Empire Day' published in the Lancashire Stories Anthology in Autumn 2022

'I Grew up as a Mormon, now I will delve deeper' Lancashire Evening Post article on being awarded an Eccles Centre fellowship to research my 2nd novel

'Transatlantic Mormon Connections and Historical Fiction' - British Library Blog on my experience as a 2021 Eccles Centre Visiting Fellow.