Shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and Portico Prize for Literature

'As funny and sad as anything by Dunbar herself' Observer, Books of the Year

'One of the great debut novels of the century, and one of my very favourite books ever.' David Peace

They used to say I had a chip on my shoulder. Whatever that means. I couldn't ever work that out but I know I always felt that I wasn't as good as other people. I was angry.

Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile tells the story of the tragically short life of playwright Andrea Dunbar. Interweaving fact and fiction, letters and scripts, newspaper stories and memory, Adelle Stripe reveals how a shy teenage girl defied the circumstances into which she was born, and the prejudice she met, to become one of her generation's greatest dramatists...

Set against the backdrop of the infamous Buttershaw estate in Bradford during the Thatcher era, this is an exhilarating and unforgettable account of an extraordinary woman's life, her tragedies and her triumphs.

Praise for Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile

'Snaps and prickles and brings a talented, troubled woman to life. [Stripe] gives an important story a real spark: Dunbar's energy and mischief bubble in the bleakness' Guardian

'The author's voice and Dunbar's mingle to create not just a portrait of an artist - funny, mischievous, reckless and truthful - but also divisions of class, geography and opportunity which continue to shape this country' Spectator

Prizes

Short-listed for Gordon Burn Prize 2017 (UK),Long-listed for Portico Prize 2020 (UK)

Snaps and prickles and brings a talented, troubled woman to life. [Stripe] gives an important story a real spark: Dunbar's energy and mischief bubble in the bleakness * Guardian *
A beautiful period piece of 1980s Britain, as funny and sad as anything by Dunbar herself * Observer (Books of the Year) *
Stripe's novel mixes fiction and biography in a manner that brings to mind the work of the late Gordon Burn . . . It fizzes like two Disprin in a pint of cider. The author's voice and Dunbar's mingle to create not just a portrait of an artist - funny, mischievous, reckless and truthful - but also divisions of class, geography and opportunity which continue to shape this country. You can read it in an afternoon and should; there are too few British novels as effervescent or as relevant as this * Spectator *
Harsh yet beautifully wrought . . . It is fiction grounded in fact, re-telling Dunbar's short life that had plenty of drama of its own * Independent *
Extraordinary * BBC Radio 4 Saturday Review *
An outstanding debut novel * Yorkshire Post *
Everything about this novel, the stuff of it, is wondrously, awfully, beautifully alive, as teeming and seething and tragic as Andrea Dunbar's own wild work and life. My book of the year so far
An impressively accomplished and important first novel. In a beautifully rendered double narrative Adelle Stripe gives voice to a lost genius. Heartfelt, passionate and profoundly relevant
Stitched together from letters and scripts, newspaper cutting and fractured memory, it is an undeniably harsh, yet fair portrait of one of the UK s most original voices * Yorkshire Post *
This outstanding debut novel is told so naturally that it feels that we are there alongside her. A great achievement
One of the great debut novels of the century, and one of my very favourite books ever. * David Peace *

Adelle Stripe was born in 1976 and grew up in Tadcaster. Her debut novel, Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile, was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and Portico Prize, an award for outstanding literature that best evokes the spirit of the North. A stage adaptation received widespread critical acclaim and was included in the Observer's Top Ten Shows of 2019. Her most recent book, Ten Thousand Apologies, was a Sunday Times bestseller. As a journalist, she has contributed to The Quietus, New Statesman and Record Collector. She is a recipient of Manchester University's Anthony Burgess Fellowship. Her forthcoming memoir, Base Notes: The Scents of a Life, will be published in 2025 by White Rabbit.