Grits (novel)

Grits
First edition
AuthorNiall Griffiths
Cover artistMatt Smith/PYMCA
LanguageEnglish
PublisherJonathan Cape
Publication date
Feb 2000
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (paperback)
Pages481
ISBN0-224-05996-3
Followed bySheepshagger 

Grits is the debut novel by British author Niall Griffiths, published in 2000 by Jonathan Cape. Set in and around Aberystwyth and concerning promiscuity, drugs, alcohol, and petty crime it gained for its author, who lives and works in the town the dubious honorific "the Welsh Irvine Welsh". The novel is largely autobiographical, Griffiths moved to Aberystwyth to research a PhD in post-war British poetry but soon became, as he puts it, an "enthusiastic participator in parties" and dropped out of his studies.

Ianto, a character briefly appearing in Grits became the anti-hero of Griffith's second novel Sheepshagger.