LE PORTRAIT MAGAZINE MARCH-SEPTEMBER ISSUE | Page 59

snippets of random observations and when she came to read them
collectively, realised they were all in the same, compelling voice.
“There was something about this voice and this world that felt
immediate, that felt truthful. People would ask what I was writing, and
I’d tell them, and they’d say it really rang true to them.”
The book struck such a chord that within six months of completing the
MA – and based on only the first 1,500 words of her manuscript –
Owens was signed by agent Jane Finigan. Just over a year later, Not
Working was the subject of a fierce eight-way auction and has sold in 10
foreign territories.
“It was an amazing experience because I had no idea that anyone would
like it,” Owens reflects. “It was overwhelming to have people be so
positive about it.”
Owens cites her influences as American writers such as Lydia Davis,
Lorrie Moore and AM Homes “who manage to have that wit but also
literariness”. One also senses the impact of Lena Dunham; Not
Working could be described as Girls with English eccentricity and a
particularly British brand of social awkwardness – there are plenty of
cringeworthy set pieces.
“I do like that kind of comedy of manners,” Owens says, laughing. “The
Office,Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm. And I do probably take a
perverse pleasure in them.”
For now, a different kind of pleasure awaits the state-school-educated
Cambridge graduate. I’m meeting her just four days before she and her
husband – the actor and comedian Simon Bird – are expecting their first
baby. When I ask whether she’s already working on her second novel,
Owens laughs again: “It’s at the back of my mind, but I have other, more
immediate, demands on my time. I definitely want to write another
book.”

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