John Boyne facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John Boyne
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Boyne in 2010
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| Born | 30 April 1971 Dublin, Ireland |
| Period | 2000–present |
| Genre | Literary fiction |
| Notable works | The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2006) The Absolutist (2011) |
John Boyne (born 30 April 1971) is a famous Irish writer. He has written many books for both adults and young readers. His stories have been translated into over 50 languages around the world. One of his most well-known books, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, was even made into a movie in 2008.
Contents
About John Boyne
John Boyne was born in Dublin, Ireland, and he still lives there today. He started writing short stories early in his career. His very first short story was published by the Sunday Tribune. In 1993, it was even chosen as a finalist for a Hennessy Literary Award.
John Boyne studied English at Trinity College Dublin, where he earned his first degree in 1993. Later, he earned a master's degree from the University of East Anglia. In 2015, this university gave him an honorary doctorate, which is a special award. He also helped choose the winner for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2015, which is a big award for Canadian books.
John Boyne has talked about some of the challenges he faced growing up in Ireland. In May 2024, he was a guest on the popular BBC Radio 4 show Desert Island Discs.
His Famous Books
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas was released in 2006. This book has sold over seven million copies worldwide. A movie based on the book was filmed in Budapest in 2007 and came out in 2008. The film was directed by Mark Herman and starred actors like Asa Butterfield and Vera Farmiga.
In 2020, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum shared some concerns about the book. They suggested that people looking for exact facts about the Holocaust might want to read other books. John Boyne responded, saying that the museum's comments had some incorrect information.
My Brother's Name Is Jessica
In 2019, John Boyne released My Brother's Name Is Jessica. This book is about a young boy learning to understand his older sibling, who shares that she is a trans girl. The book received some criticism about how it showed transgender topics.
John Boyne explained in an article that a transgender friend inspired him to write the book. He also said he spoke with experts and several trans people to make sure his story was real and respectful.
After some of the criticism, John Boyne temporarily closed his Twitter account. He said he was experiencing online harassment. However, he later returned to the site. Some other writers have supported him during this time. In 2020, a comedian named Aidan Comerford apologized to John Boyne. Comerford admitted that his tweets about Boyne were "relentless harassment" and had caused him "great distress." John Boyne accepted the apology.
Selected Works
John Boyne has written many books. Here are some of them:
Novels for Adults
- 2000: The Thief of Time
- 2001: The Congress of Rough Riders
- 2004: Crippen
- 2006: Next of Kin
- 2008: Mutiny on the Bounty
- 2009: The House of Special Purpose
- 2011: The Absolutist
- 2013: This House Is Haunted
- 2014: A History of Loneliness
- 2017: The Heart's Invisible Furies
- 2018: A Ladder to the Sky
- 2020: A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom
- 2021: The Echo Chamber
- 2022: All the Broken Places
- 2023: Water
- 2024: Earth
- 2024: Fire
- 2025: Air
Novels for Younger Readers
- 2006: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
- 2010: Noah Barleywater Runs Away
- 2012: The Terrible Thing That Happened To Barnaby Brocket
- 2013: Stay Where You Are And Then Leave
- 2015: The Boy at the Top of the Mountain
- 2019: My Brother's Name Is Jessica
- 2024: The Dog Who Danced on the Moon
Novellas
- 2008: The Second Child
- 2009: The Dare
Short Story Collections
- 2015: Beneath The Earth
Awards and Recognition
John Boyne's books have won many awards and have been recognized around the world.
- For The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
- Winner: Irish Book Awards Children's Book of the Year
- Winner: Irish Book Awards Radio 1 Book of the Year
- Winner: Qué Leer Award Best International Novel of the Year (Spain)
- Winner: Orange Prize Readers Group: Book of the Year
- Winner: Children's Books Ireland Book of the Year
- Shortlisted for many other awards, including the British Book Award and the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (Germany).
- For Noah Barleywater Runs Away
- Shortlisted for Irish Book Awards Children's Book of the Year.
- For The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket
- Shortlisted for Irish Book Awards: Children's Book of the Year.
- For The Absolutist
- Longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award.
- For Stay Where You Are And Then Leave
- Shortlisted for Irish Book Awards Children's Book of the Year.
- For A History of Loneliness
- Shortlisted for Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year.
- For The Boy At The Top Of The Mountain
- Shortlisted for Irish Book Awards Children's Book of the Year.
- For The Heart's Invisible Furies
- Shortlisted for Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year.
- Named 2017 Book of the Year for Book of the Month.
- For A Ladder to the Sky
- Shortlisted for Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year.
- Other Awards
- 2012: Inducted into the Hennessy Literary Award Hall of Fame.
- 2014: Winner: Irish Book Awards: Short Story of the Year ("Rest Day").
- 2015: Winner: Gustav Heinemann Peace Prize (Germany).
