Jojo Moyes

Last updated

Jojo Moyes
Born (1969-08-04) 4 August 1969 (age 55)
Maidstone, Kent, England
LanguageEnglish
Period1993–present
Genre Romance
SpouseCharles (Maxwell) Arthur
Children3
Website
www.jojomoyes.com

Pauline Sara Jo Moyes (born 4 August 1969), known professionally as Jojo Moyes, is an English journalist and, since 2002, an award-winning romance novelist, [1] #1 New York Times best selling author [2] and screenwriter. [3] [4] She is one of only a few authors to have twice won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association and her works have been translated into twenty-eight languages [5] and have sold over 40 million copies worldwide. [6]

Contents

Life and early career

Pauline Sara-Jo Moyes was born on 4 August 1969, [7] in Maidstone, [8] England. [9]

Before attending university, Moyes held several jobs: she was a typist at NatWest typing statements in braille for blind people, a brochure writer for Club 18-30, and a minicab controller for a brief time. While an undergraduate at Royal Holloway, University of London, Moyes worked for the Egham and Staines News. [10]

She earned a journalism degree from City University [11] as well as a degree at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, London University. [12]

Moyes won a bursary financed by The Independent newspaper which allowed her to attend the postgraduate newspaper journalism course at City University in 1992. [13] She subsequently worked for The Independent for the next 10 years (except for one year, when she worked in Hong Kong for the Sunday Morning Post) in various roles, becoming Assistant News Editor in 1998. [13] In 2002 she became the newspaper's Arts and Media Correspondent. [14]

Writing career

Early in her writing career, [15] Moyes wrote three manuscripts that were all initially rejected. With one child, another baby on the way, and a career as a journalist, Moyes committed to herself that if her fourth book was rejected, she would stop her efforts. After submitting the first three chapters of her fourth book to various publishers, six of them began a bidding war for the rights.[ citation needed ]

Moyes became a full-time novelist in 2002, when her first book Sheltering Rain was published. She continues to write articles for The Daily Telegraph . [16]

Moyes' publisher, Hodder & Stoughton, did not take up the 2012 novel Me Before You and Moyes sold it to Penguin. It sold six million copies, went to number one in nine countries, and reinvigorated her back catalogue resulting in three of her novels being on the New York Times bestseller list at the same time. [17] [18] Moyes would later write two sequels to Me Before You: After You in 2015 and Still Me in 2018. [19]

In 2013, it was announced that Michael H. Weber and Scott Neustadter had been hired to write an adaptation of Me Before You. [20] In 2016 the film adaptation Me Before You was released and the screenplay was written by Moyes. [21]

In 2018, Moyes invested £120,000 in the Quick Reads Initiative, an adult literacy project. Her investment gave the program three additional years of funding. [22] Her book Paris for One and Other Stories is part of the 2015 Quick Reads collection [23] and she contributed a short story to A Fresh Start, from the 2020 Quick Reads collection. [24]

Awards and achievements

Books written

Literary influences

Moyes' favourite book in childhood was National Velvet by Enid Bagnold. She cites Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson as a book that made her want to be a better writer, [15] and she is inspired by authors such as Nora Ephron, [44] Marian Keyes, Lisa Jewell, Jonathan Tropper, and Jane Austen. [5]

Personal life

Moyes lives on a farm in Great Sampford, Essex, with her husband, journalist Charles Arthur, and their three children. [45] [46] Her animals include an ex-racehorse [44] and a rescued 58 kg (128 lb) female Pyrenean mountain dog. [47]

Bibliography

Novels

Short stories

Collections:

Adaptations

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References

  1. 1 2 "About Jojo". JoJo Moyes. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  2. ↑ "Jojo Moyes | Penguin Random House". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  3. ↑ "Jojo Moyes on Creating "Me Before You" From Book to Film". womenandhollywood.com. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  4. ↑ "Jojo Moyes". IMDb. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  5. 1 2 "jojo moyes red chat" . Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  6. 1 2 Kroll, Justin (8 December 2020). "Universal Taps Catalina Aguilar-Mastretta To Direct Adaptation Of Jojo Moyes Bestseller 'The Giver Of Stars'". Deadline. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  7. ↑ "Jojo Moyes: Biography". webbiography.com. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  8. ↑ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  9. ↑ "Jojo Moyes". The Open Library.
  10. ↑ "Jojo Moyes". The Telegraph. October 2015.
  11. ↑ GradeSaver. "Jojo Moyes Biography | List of Works, Study Guides & Essays | GradeSaver". www.gradesaver.com. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  12. ↑ BookBrowse. "Jojo Moyes author biography". BookBrowse.com. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  13. 1 2 "Jojo Moyes". freshfiction.com. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  14. ↑ "Jojo Moyes". jojomoyes.com. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  15. 1 2 "Interview with Jojo Moyes". Goodreads. 31 July 2013. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  16. ↑ "Jojo Moyes". Telegraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2 October 2011. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  17. ↑ "Moyes interview". Irish Independent. October 2015.
  18. ↑ Beckerman, Hannah (21 September 2015). "Jojo Moyes: 'I'd like to be the Puccini of fiction'". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  19. ↑ STILL ME by Jojo Moyes, Penguin Books
  20. ↑ "ME BEFORE YOU to Be Adapted by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber". Collider. 23 October 2013. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  21. ↑ "Me Before You (film 2016)". IMDB.
  22. ↑ "Jojo Moyes About Backing the Quick Reads". Ikon London Magazine. 21 February 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  23. ↑ Moyes, J. (1 January 2015). Paris for One. Penguin Books. ISBN   978-1-4059-1893-0.
  24. ↑ "A Fresh Start (Quick Reads) (Quick Reads) (Quick Reads 2020)". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  25. 1 2 3 "Jojo Moyes". www.fantasticfiction.com. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  26. ↑ "Welcome – The Romantic Novelists' Association". rna-uk.org. Archived from the original on 15 November 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  27. ↑ "Jojo Moyes". TheBookseller.com. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  28. ↑ "Jojo Moyes wins Romantic Novel of the Year". BBC News. 9 March 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  29. ↑ "Jojo Moyes". Nielsen Awards. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  30. ↑ "Jojo Moyes". Nielsen Awards. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  31. ↑ "Best Sellers - June 26, 2016 - The New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  32. ↑ "Me Before You | Awards & Grants". www.ala.org. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  33. ↑ "Announcing the Goodreads Choice Winner in Best Fiction!". Goodreads. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  34. ↑ "Jojo Moyes". Book Series in Order. 14 April 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  35. ↑ "Book Review: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes". Ethereal Jinxed. 1 September 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  36. ↑ "British Book Awards 2020: Books of the Year shortlists revealed | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  37. ↑ Finney, Joanne (13 August 2020). "The 10 best Jojo Moyes books, rated by us". Good Housekeeping. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  38. 1 2 3 Me Before You - IMDb , retrieved 10 August 2022
  39. ↑ "2017 People's Choice Awards". www.warnerbros.com. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  40. ↑ Sturges, Fiona (5 May 2023). "Someone Else's Shoes by Jojo Moyes audiobook review – a smart changing-places tale". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  41. ↑ Herald, TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER For the Telegraph (19 February 2023). "Schlichenmeyer: 'Someone Else's Shoes' a breezy, relatable read". TelegraphHerald.com. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  42. ↑ "Jojo Moyes writes love stories. Her own recently took an unexpected turn". washingtonpost.com.
  43. ↑ Heyman, Marshall (4 February 2023). "She Grabs the Wrong Gym Bag, and Carries It Into a New Life". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  44. 1 2 BookBrowse. "Jojo Moyes author interview". BookBrowse.com. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  45. ↑ "Curtis Brown". curtisbrown.co.uk. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  46. ↑ "The Open Library".
  47. ↑ Moyes, Jojo (25 January 2018). "How a 58kg rescue dog changed my life". The Times. Retrieved 25 January 2018.(subscription required)
  48. ↑ Review of The Peacock Emporium at Booklover Book Reviews
  49. ↑ Sturges, Fiona (5 May 2023). "Someone Else's Shoes by Jojo Moyes audiobook review – a smart changing-places tale". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  50. ↑ Herald, TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER For the Telegraph (19 February 2023). "Schlichenmeyer: 'Someone Else's Shoes' a breezy, relatable read". TelegraphHerald.com. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  51. ↑ "Jojo Moyes writes love stories. Her own recently took an unexpected turn". washingtonpost.com.
  52. ↑ Heyman, Marshall (4 February 2023). "She Grabs the Wrong Gym Bag, and Carries It Into a New Life". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 26 June 2023.
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