John Boyne

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John Boyne
John Boyne in Dublin (cropped).JPG
Boyne in 2010
Born (1971-04-30) 30 April 1971 (age 53)
Dublin, Ireland
Alma mater Trinity College, Dublin (BA)
University of East Anglia (MA)
Period2000–present
GenreLiterary fiction
Notable works The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2006)
The Absolutist (2011)
Website
johnboyne.com

John Boyne (born 30 April 1971) is an Irish novelist and writer. [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 57 languages. Boyne's 2006 novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas was adapted into a 2008 film of the same name. As of 2022, the book has sold over 11 million copies worldwide. [2]

Contents

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. [3] [4]

Boyne was educated at Terenure College, a Carmelite-run secondary school in Dublin. He read English at Trinity College Dublin, graduating BA in 1993. [5] [6] He subsequently obtained an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia (UEA) in 1995 where he studied under Malcolm Bradbury. [7] In 2015 he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by UEA. [8]

He chaired the jury for the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize. [9]

Boyne is gay, and has spoken about the difficulties he encountered growing up gay in Catholic Ireland. [10] [11] [12] He has spoken of suffering abuse at Terenure College as a student. [13]

He regards John Banville as "the world's greatest living writer". [14]

In May 2024, Boyne was the castaway on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs . [15]

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. [16] 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. [17] In response, Boyne suggested that the museum's criticism contained inaccurate information. [18]

My Brother's Name Is Jessica

Boyne's 2019 book My Brother's Name Is Jessica, about a young boy coming to terms with his older sibling coming out as a trans girl, was criticised over its portrayal of transgender topics and for misgendering people. In an article in The Irish Times promoting the book, Boyne explained that he was inspired to write it by a transgender friend of his, and had spoken to gender-identity professionals and "several trans people" to ensure he portrayed the book's subject matter authentically. However, he received further criticism for stating in the article that "I reject the word 'cis'... I don't consider myself a cis man; I consider myself a man." He added that "while I will happily employ any term that a person feels best defines them... I reject the notion that someone can force an unwanted term on to another". [19] [20]

Boyne deleted his Twitter account, citing social media harassment, though he would later rejoin the site. [21] [22] [18] Some writers have supported him. [23] [24] 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." [25]

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". [26]

Selected works

Novels

Novels for younger readers

Novellas

Short story collections

Awards

Other Awards:

References

  1. ↑ O Conghaile, Pól (23 October 2010). "Wild Child of a Different Stripe". Irish Examiner . Retrieved 27 October 2010.
  2. ↑ "Sequel announced for The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas". Dublin.
  3. ↑ Philip Casey, "Boyne, John" Archived 2017-05-05 at the Wayback Machine , Irish Writers Online.
  4. ↑ "10 Interesting John Boyne Facts", My Interesting facts, 6 May 2014.
  5. ↑ Sherlock, D.J.M. (2006). Trinity College Record Volume 2006. Dublin: Trinity College Dublin Press. ISBN   1-871408-07-5.
  6. ↑ "Telling tales about Trinity College in the 90s". The Irish Times . 19 December 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  7. ↑ New Writing , Interview with John Boyne
  8. ↑ UEA, honorary graduates
  9. ↑ Medley, Mark (14 January 2015). "The Giller Prize expands its jury to five people". The Globe and Mail.
  10. ↑ Boyne, John (19 July 2017). "At Swim, Two Boys Is a Great Irish Novel, a Gay Love Story but So Much More". The Irish Times. Retrieved 1 February 2019. As a young gay man behind a bookshop counter, I watched the people who bought At Swim, Two Boys—and there were a lot of them—and used it as a tool for flirtation. A reprint of John Boyne's introduction to At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill.
  11. ↑ Boyne, John (22 February 2018). "John Boyne on Homosexuality and Changing Attitudes". WHSmith. Retrieved 1 February 2019. [...]not because I had any issue with being gay[...]
  12. ↑ Boyne, John (7 November 2014). "John Boyne: 'The Catholic priesthood blighted my youth and the youth of people like me'". The Irish Times. Retrieved 1 February 2019. It's not easy to be a young, gay teenager[...]
  13. ↑ Boyne, John (20 February 2021). "John Boyne: I was abused at Terenure College, but not by John McClean". The Irish Times. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
  14. ↑ 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.
  15. ↑ "Desert Island Discs - John Boyne, writer". BBC Online . Retrieved 6 June 2024.
  16. ↑ McClements, Freya (5 December 2016). "Is making a living just from writing books a literary fiction?". The Irish Times. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
  17. ↑ McGreevy, Ronan (5 January 2020). "Avoid John Boyne's Holocaust novel, Auschwitz Museum advises". The Irish Times. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  18. 1 2 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.
  19. ↑ Boyne, John (13 April 2019). "John Boyne: Why I support trans rights but reject the word 'cis'". The Irish Times. I reject the word "cis" ... I don't consider myself a cis man; I consider myself a man.
  20. ↑ Gaden Gilmartin, Cassia (16 April 2019). "Irish Author John Boyne Faces Backlash From Trans Activists Over New Novel". Gay Community News.
  21. ↑ Lynch, Donal (24 April 2018). "'I was warned not to go out alone' - author John Boyne in gender-label row". Irish Independent .
  22. ↑ O'Connor, Amy (16 April 2019). "John Boyne deletes Twitter account after trans article backlash". The Irish Times.
  23. ↑ Rickets, Chris (20 April 2019). "John Boyne flying flag for trans people even if he is holding it upside down". The Irish Times.
  24. ↑ Whelan, Ella (25 April 2019). "John Boyne is a man, not a 'cis' man". spiked.
  25. ↑ 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.
  26. ↑ 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.
  27. ↑ Hamilton, Sheila. "A Ladder to the Sky Reviewed". New York Journal of Books.
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