Jane Friedman on Open Road Media, Five Years After Launch

Sillitoe was a seminal figure in his day, part of the gritty "angry young men" movement in 1950s Britain that was left-leaning and challenged the Establishment. Its fellow members included the playwright John Osborne and the novelist John Wain. Sillitoe rose to fame with The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, both of which became classic black-and-white films.