John Boyne

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John Boyne
Boyne in 2010
Boyne in 2010
Born (1971-04-30) 30 April 1971 (age 53)
Dublin, Ireland
Period2000–present
GenreLiterary fiction
Notable worksThe Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2006)
The Absolutist (2011)
Website
johnboyne.com

John Boyne (born 30 April 1971) is an Irish novelist.[1] He is the author of sixteen novels for adults, six novels for younger readers, two novellas and one collection of short stories. His novels are published in over 50 languages. His 2006 novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas was adapted into a 2008 film of the same name.

Biography

Boyne was born in Dublin, Ireland, where he still lives. His first short story was published by the Sunday Tribune and in 1993 was shortlisted for a Hennessy Literary Award.[2][3] His B.A. degree is from Trinity College Dublin in English in 1993,[4][5] and he subsequently obtained an MA degree from the University of East Anglia. In 2015 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of East Anglia. He chaired the jury for the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize.[6] He regards John Banville as "the world's greatest living writer".[7] In May 2024, Boyne was the castaway on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs.[8]

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas was published in 2006. The book has sold over seven million copies worldwide.[9] A Heyday/Miramax film adaptation, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, was shot in Budapest in mid-2007 and released in late 2008. Directed by Mark Herman, the film stars Asa Butterfield, David Thewlis, Vera Farmiga, Rupert Friend and Sheila Hancock. In January 2020, the book was cited by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, in a set of back and forth tweets between the museum and the author, as a book that should be avoided by those promoting accurate understanding of the Holocaust.[10] In response, Boyne suggested that the museum's criticism contained inaccurate information.[11]

My Brother's Name Is Jessica

Boyne deleted his Twitter account, citing social media harassment, though he would later rejoin the site.[12][13][11] Some writers have supported him.[14][15] In 2020, comedian and writer Aidan Comerford, who had repeatedly accused Boyne of transphobia, issued an apology via Twitter. Comerford admitted that his tweets about Boyne "were relentless harassment" that had caused Boyne "great distress". Boyne responded by saying: "I am grateful for Aidan Comerford's apologies and retractions and, outside of that, I have no further comment."[16] He alluded to the backlash he received over the book again in a newspaper column in 2021. Although Boyne did not mention Comerford by name, he referenced someone who "admitted that he'd been engaged in a determined campaign of 'relentless harassment'", and then "slithered back to his subterranean cavern to lick his wounds".[17]

Selected works

Novels

Novels for younger readers

  • 2006: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (David Fickling Books)
  • 2010: Noah Barleywater Runs Away (David Fickling Books)
  • 2012: The Terrible Thing That Happened To Barnaby Brocket (Doubleday Children's)
  • 2013: Stay Where You Are And Then Leave (Doubleday Children's)
  • 2015: The Boy at the Top of the Mountain (Doubleday Children's)
  • 2019: My Brother's Name Is Jessica (Puffin)
  • 2024: The Dog Who Danced on the Moon (Penguin)

Novellas

  • 2008: The Second Child (New Island Books)
  • 2009: The Dare (Black Swan Books)

Short story collections

  • 2015: Beneath The Earth (Doubleday)

Awards

  • The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas: winner: Irish Book Awards Children's Book of the Year; Irish Book Awards Radio 1 Book of the Year; Qué Leer Award Best International Novel of the Year (Spain); Orange Prize Readers Group: Book of the Year; Children's Books Ireland Book of the Year. Shortlist: Irish Book Award Novel of the Year; British Book Award; the Border's New Voices Award; the Ottar's Children's Book Prize; the Paolo Ungari Literary Award (Italy); Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (Germany). Longlist: The Carnegie Medal; the International IMPAC Literary Award
  • Noah Barleywater Runs Away: shortlisted for Irish Book Awards Children's Book of the Year; Sheffield Children's Book Award, Hull Children's Book Award; Longlist: The Carnegie Medal
  • The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket: shortlisted for Irish Book Awards: Children's Book of the Year; Longlist: The Carnegie Medal
  • The Absolutist: Longlist: International Dublin Literary Award
  • Stay Where You Are And Then Leave: shortlisted for Irish Book Awards Children's Book of the Year; Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (Germany)
  • A History of Loneliness: shortlisted for Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year
  • The Boy At The Top Of The Mountain: shortlisted for Irish Book Awards Children's Book of the Year; Children's Books Ireland Book of the Year
  • The Heart's Invisible Furies: shortlisted for Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year
  • The "Invisible Furies": 2017 Book of the Year for Book of the Month
  • A Ladder to the Sky: shortlisted for Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year; Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award

Other Awards:

References

  1. O Conghaile, Pól (23 October 2010). "Wild Child of a Different Stripe". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
  2. Philip Casey, "Boyne, John" Archived 2017-05-05 at the Wayback Machine, Irish Writers Online.
  3. "10 Interesting John Boyne Facts", My Interesting facts, 6 May 2014.
  4. Sherlock, D.J.M. (2006). Trinity College Record Volume 2006. Dublin: Trinity College Dublin Press. ISBN 1-871408-07-5.
  5. "Telling tales about Trinity College in the 90s". The Irish Times. 19 December 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  6. Medley, Mark (14 January 2015). "The Giller Prize expands its jury to five people". The Globe and Mail.
  7. Boyne, John (11 October 2019). "John Banville... the world's greatest living writer, is someone who has a legitimate chance of winning the Nobel Prize". Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  8. "Desert Island Discs - John Boyne, writer". BBC Online. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  9. McClements, Freya (5 December 2016). "Is making a living just from writing books a literary fiction?". The Irish Times. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  10. McGreevy, Ronan (5 January 2020). "Avoid John Boyne's Holocaust novel, Auschwitz Museum advises". The Irish Times. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  11. 11.0 11.1 Flood, Alison (7 January 2020). "The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas author defends work from criticism by Auschwitz memorial". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  12. Lynch, Donal (24 April 2018). "'I was warned not to go out alone' - author John Boyne in gender-label row". Irish Independent.
  13. O'Connor, Amy (16 April 2019). "John Boyne deletes Twitter account after trans article backlash". The Irish Times.
  14. Rickets, Chris (20 April 2019). "John Boyne flying flag for trans people even if he is holding it upside down". The Irish Times.
  15. Whelan, Ella (25 April 2019). "John Boyne is a man, not a 'cis' man". spiked.
  16. Barter, Pavel (19 July 2020). "Battle of the Boyne ends with novelist thankful for Aidan Comerford apology– TheTimes.co.uk". Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 19 July 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
  17. Boyne, John (13 August 2021). "John Boyne: 'Only a fool or an incurable optimist would think you can solve the world's problems in 280 characters'". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 28 May 2023. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  18. Hamilton, Sheila. "A Ladder to the Sky Reviewed". New York Journal of Books.

External links