Andrew Cowan was born in Corby, Northamptonshire in 1960, and was educated at the University of East Anglia.

His acclaimed first novel, Pig (1994), won a Betty Trask Award, the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, a Scottish Arts Council Book Award and the Ruth Hadden Memorial Award. His second novel, Common Ground, was published in 1996. Crustaceans (2000), is the story of a man struggling to come to terms with the deaths of both his son and his mother.

Andrew Cowan lives in East Anglia. His latest novel is What I Know (2005).

'Cowan's writing is reminiscent of Roddy Doyle's in his ability to recreate the intense emotions of youth.' -- The Good Book Guide 20020901 'A coming-of-age story as strange and surprising, in its way, as THE CATCHER IN THE RYE' -- New York Times 'A first novel of extraordinary poise and accomplishment, treating a boy's coming of age amid the squalid realities of the new British underclass with a delicacy and lyricism which is both gripping and moving' -- Michael Dibdin 'The detail is immaculately recorded; the effect is heartbreaking' -- Louisa Young, Sunday Times '[A] wholly satisfying book, quietly beautiful and inescapably ominous' -- David Buckley, Observer 'Beautifully evoked ! Cowan writes with a deceptive simplicity' -- Amanda Craig, The Times 'A wonderful first novel' -- Christopher Hart, Daily Telegraph