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John Boyne Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

John Boyne
Photo: Rich Gilligan

John Boyne

How to pronounce John Boyne: BOYn

John Boyne Biography

John Boyne was born in Ireland in 1971. He is the author of eleven novels for adults, five for younger readers and a collection of short stories. His 2006 novel The Boy In the Striped Pajamas sold 9 million copies worldwide and has been adapted for cinema, theatre, ballet and opera. John has won three Irish Book Awards and many other international literary awards and his novels are published in over 50 languages. He lives in Dublin.

John Boyne's website

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Interview

John Boyne talks about The Heart's Invisible Furies, set over 70 years of Irish history, from the end of the Second World War in 1945 to just after the Marriage Equality Act of 2015.

You dedicate The Heart's Invisible Furies to the author John Irving and indeed, this novel feels very "Irving-like." Is he one of your literary influences?

I read The Cider House Rules when I was 17 years old and quickly devoured all of John Irving's novels. Since then, he has been my favourite novelist. I admire his storytelling abilities but also his empathy for what he has always described as "sexual misfits." John was writing about transgender people, for example, in The World According to Garp, long before that was a subject that was talked about. When I published my first novel, The Thief of Time, in 2000, I sent John a copy of the book and a fan letter, telling him how much he had inspired me and he very kindly read the novel and wrote back. Since then we have become good friends and seen each other on many occasions. He has been a real mentor to me over the years and has given me some great advice. When I am with him, I still have to pinch myself and think I'm friends with John Irving! I wanted to dedicate a novel to him to thank him for his support and, because the subject matter of this novel ties in with the subject matter of some of his books, this felt like the right one.

Which ...

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Books by this Author

Books by John Boyne at BookBrowse
All the Broken Places jacket A Ladder to the Sky jacket The Heart's Invisible Furies jacket Stay Where You Are And Then Leave jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for John Boyne but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
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We recommend 35 similar authors


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