S. J. Watson | |
---|---|
Born | 1971 Stourbridge |
Occupation | Writer |
Language | English language |
Steve "S. J." Watson (born 1971) [1] is an English writer. He debuted in 2011 with the thriller novel Before I Go to Sleep . Rights to publish the book have been sold in 42 countries [2] and it has continued to be an international bestseller. [3]
Watson was born in Stourbridge, Worcestershire (now West Midlands). He studied Physics at the University of Birmingham and then moved to London, where he worked in various hospitals and specialized as an audiologist [4] in the diagnosis and treatment of hearing-impaired children. In the evenings and weekends he wrote fiction. [5]
In 2009 Watson was accepted for the first course Writing a Novel at the Faber Academy. The result was his debut, Before I Go to Sleep . He was introduced to literary agent Clare Conville on the last night of the course and she agreed to represent him. [6] The book was published in 2011. In the same year, the rights to adapt the film for the big screen by was purchased. The film was released in 2014. [7]
Watson's second novel, Second Life , was published in February 2015, with two further books scheduled for 2017 and 2019. [8]
S J Watson published his third novel with Transworld, Final Cut, about a documentary film-maker who starts to uncover a seaside community's "dark and extraordinary secret". [9]
Media interest in Before I Go to Sleep was considerable and Watson himself was the subject of a profile in the Sunday Times before its UK publication, [10] and The Wall Street Journal before its US publication. [1] Watson has been profiled by Bookseller+Publisher , [11] and interviewed by Kirsty Lang on BBC Radio 4's Front Row . [12] He has also been interviewed by Simon Mayo, when Before I Go to Sleep was chosen as Mayo's bookclub book of the month. [13]
Douglas Noël Adams was an English author, humorist, and screenwriter, best known for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy developed into a "trilogy" of five books that sold more than 15 million copies in his lifetime. It was further developed into a television series, several stage plays, comics, a video game, and a 2005 feature film. Adams's contribution to UK radio is commemorated in The Radio Academy's Hall of Fame.
Sir Terence David John Pratchett was an English humorist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his Discworld series of 41 novels.
Joanne Michèle Sylvie Harris is an English-French author, best known for her novel Chocolat (1999), which was adapted the following year for the film Chocolat.
Bernard Cornwell is an English-American author of historical novels and a history of the Waterloo Campaign. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe. He has also written The Saxon Stories, a series of 13 novels about the making of England.
Sir Ian James Rankin is a Scottish crime writer and philanthropist, best known for his Inspector Rebus novels.
Simon Andrew Hicks Mayo is an English radio presenter and author who worked for BBC Radio from 1982 until 2022.
James Dover Grant, primarily known by his pen name Lee Child, is a British author who writes thriller novels, and is best known for his Jack Reacher novel series. The books follow the adventures of a former American military policeman, Jack Reacher, who wanders the United States. His first novel, Killing Floor (1997), won both the Anthony Award and the 1998 Barry Award for Best First Novel.
Michel Faber is a Dutch-born writer of English-language fiction, including his 2002 novel The Crimson Petal and the White. His latest book is a novel for young adults, D: A Tale of Two Worlds, published in 2020. His next book, Listen, a non-fiction work about music, is due in 2023.
The British Book Awards or Nibbies are literary awards for the best UK writers and their works, administered by The Bookseller. The awards have had several previous names, owners and sponsors since being launched in 1990, including the National Book Awards from 2010 to 2014.
Stephen Leather is a British thriller author whose works are published by Hodder & Stoughton. He has written for television shows such as London's Burning, The Knock, and the BBC's Murder in Mind series. He is one of the top selling Amazon Kindle authors, the second bestselling UK author worldwide on Kindle in 2011.
Jon Stock is a British author and journalist.
Manda Scott is a former Scottish veterinary surgeon who is now a novelist, blogger, columnist and occasional broadcaster. Born and educated in Glasgow, Scotland, she trained at the University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Medicine and now lives and works in Shropshire.
Beatrice Clare Dunkel was a British author. Earlier in her life she worked as an actress and model under the name Candy Davis. She went on to write novels as Mo Hayder. One forthcoming book, The Book of Sand, will be published in 2022 under the name Theo Clare. She won an Edgar Award in 2012. Her best-known work was Birdman, which was followed by a sequel, The Treatment.
Kia Abdullah is a British novelist and travel writer. She is the best-selling author of courtroom dramas Take It Back, Truth Be Told and Next of Kin, and has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, The Times,The Financial Times, The Telegraph and the BBC, among other publications.
AudioGO was a publisher of audiobooks and a range of spoken word and large-print titles. It was majority owned by AudioGO Ltd, and minority owned by BBC Worldwide. It was formed in 2010, when AudioGO purchased a majority share in BBC Audiobooks, and traded until it went into administration in 2013.
Before I Go to Sleep is the first novel by S. J. Watson, published in the spring of 2011. It became both a Sunday Times and The New York Times bestseller and has been translated into over 40 languages, and has become a bestseller in France, Canada, Bulgaria and the Netherlands. It reached number 7 on the US bestseller list, the highest position for a debut novel by a British author since J. K. Rowling. The New York Times described the author as an "out-of-nowhere literary sensation". He wrote the novel between shifts whilst working as a National Health Service (NHS) audiologist.
Kerry Wilkinson is a British author and sports journalist born in Bath, Somerset. In 2018, his book Ten Birthdays won the Romantic Novelists' Association award for Young Adult Novel of the Year. Along with Marius Gabriel, he was the first man to win a RoNA Award in the organisation's 58-year history. He is also an International Thriller Writers Awards winner, with Close To You, for best ebook original.
Before I Go to Sleep is a 2014 mystery psychological thriller film written and directed by Rowan Joffé and based on the 2011 novel Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson. An international co-production between the United Kingdom, the United States, France and Sweden, the film stars Nicole Kidman, Mark Strong, Colin Firth, and Anne-Marie Duff.
Rachel Abbott is a British author of psychological thrillers. A self-publisher, her first seven novels have combined to sell over three million copies, and have all been bestsellers on Amazon's Kindle store. In 2015, she was named the 14th bestselling author over the last five years on Amazon's Kindle in the UK.
The Long Earth is a collaborative science fiction novel series by British authors Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter.