Ali Smith (born 1962 in Inverness) is a British writer,
She was born to working-class parents, raised in a council house in Inverness and now lives in Cambridge. She studied at the University of Aberdeen, and then at Cambridge, for a PhD. that was never finished. She worked as a lecturer at University of Strathclyde until she fell ill with chronic fatigue syndrome. Following this she became a full-time writer and now writes for The Guardian, The Scotsman, and the Times Literary Supplement. Openly gay, she lives in Cambridge with her partner Sarah Wood.
In 2007 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
In 2009, she donated the short story Last (previously published in the Manchester Review Online) to Oxfam's 'Ox-Tales' project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the 'Fire' collection.
Hotel World (2001), awarded the Encore Award, a Scottish Arts Council Book Award and the inaugural Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year Award. Shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Man Booker Prize for Fiction. The novel was adapted to the stage by Kidbrooke secondary school and was performed at the Greenwich Theatre and the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The Accidental (2005), shortlisted for the 2005 Man Booker Prize, the Orange Prize for Fiction, and won the 2005 Whitbread Novel of the Year award.
Girl Meets Boy (2007), winner of Diva magazine readers’ choice Book of the Year, Sundial Scottish Arts Council Novel of the Year.
Ali Smith partnered with the Scottish band Trashcan Sinatras and wrote the lyrics to a song called "Half An Apple", a love song about keeping half an apple spare for a loved one who is gone. The song was released on March 5, 2007, on the album Ballads of the Book.