John Boyne (born 30 April 1971) is an Irish

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

. He is the author of eleven novels for adults and six novels for younger readers. His novels are published in over 50 languages. His 2006 novel ''

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas ''The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas'' is a 2006 Holocaust novel by Irish novelist John Boyne. Much like the process he undertakes when writing most of his novels, Boyne has said that he wrote the entire first draft in two and a half days, without ...

'' was adapted into a 2008 film of the same name.

Biography

Boyne was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, where he still lives to this day. His first short story was published by the ''

Sunday Tribune The ''Sunday Tribune'' was an Irish Sunday broadsheet newspaper published by Tribune Newspapers plc. It was edited in its final years by Nóirín Hegarty, who changed both the tone and the physical format of the newspaper from broadsheet to tab ...

'' and in 1993 was shortlisted for a Hennessy Literary Award. A graduate of

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

(BA) and the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

(MA), in 2015 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of East Anglia. He chaired the jury for the 2015

Scotiabank Giller Prize The Giller Prize (sponsored as the Scotiabank Giller Prize), is a literary award given to a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English (including translation) the previous year, after an annual juried competition be ...

. Boyne is

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

, and has spoken about the difficulties he encountered growing up gay in Catholic Ireland. Boyne has spoken of suffering abuse in

Terenure College Terenure College is a Carmelite-run secondary school located in the suburb of Terenure, Dublin, Ireland. The school was founded in 1860 and had an associated primary school until 2017. It is one of the "big six" Leinster Schools Rugby-playin ...

as a student there. He regards

John Banville William John Banville (born 8 December 1945) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, adapter of dramas and screenwriter. Though he has been described as "the heir to Proust, via Nabokov", Banville himself maintains that W. B. Yeats and Henry J ...

as "the world's greatest living writer". In August 2020, it was noticed that Boyne's latest novel, ''A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom'', which takes place in the real world in the year 1 AD, contained a section in which a seamstress refers to the ingredients used to create

dye A dye is a colored substance that chemically bonds to the substrate to which it is being applied. This distinguishes dyes from pigments which do not chemically bind to the material they color. Dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution an ...

s. However, the listed ingredients were entirely fictional, being taken from the 2017 videogame '' The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild'', and included items such as the "silent princess" flower, "octorok eyeballs", and "the tail of the red lizalfos". The error was initially posted on

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...

, and after writer Dana Schwartz highlighted the segment on Twitter, theorizing that Boyne had done an Internet search for 'how to dye clothes red' and used the ''Zelda'' results without looking into the context, Boyne admitted his error, saying "I’ll leave it as it is. I actually think it’s quite funny and you’re totally right. I don’t remember but I must have just Googled it. Hey, sometimes you just gotta throw your hands up and say ‘yup! My bad!’"

''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. A

Heyday Heyday may refer to: * Titled works: ** Music: *** ''Heyday'' (The Church album), a 1986 album by the Church *** ''Heyday'' (Fairport Convention album), a 1987 album by Fairport Convention ** ''Heyday'' (novel), a historical novel by Kurt Ander ...

Miramax Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California. It was initially a leadi ...

film adaptation, ''

'', was shot in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

in mid-2007 and released in late 2008. Directed by

Mark Herman Mark Herman (born 1954) is an English film director and screenwriter, best known for writing and directing the 2008 film ''The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas''. Life and career Herman was born in Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. He ...

, the film stars

Asa Butterfield Asa Bopp Farr Butterfield (; born Asa Maxwell Thornton Farr Butterfield on 1 April 1997) is an English actor. He has received nominations for three British Independent Film Awards, two Critics' Choice Awards, two Saturn Awards, and three Young ...

David Thewlis David Wheeler (born 20 March 1963), better known as David Thewlis (), is a British actor, author, director and screenwriter. Thewlis rose to prominence when he starred in the film ''Naked'' (1993), for which he won the Cannes Film Festival Aw ...

Vera Farmiga Vera Ann Farmiga ( ; born August 6, 1973) is an American actress who is best known for portraying paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren in the Conjuring Universe films '' The Conjuring'' (2013), '' The Conjuring 2'' (2016), '' Annabelle Co ...

Rupert Friend Rupert William Anthony Friend (born 9 October 1981) is an English actor. He first gained recognition for his roles in '' The Libertine'' (2004) and '' Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont'' (2005), both of which won him awards for best newcomer. He port ...

and

Sheila Hancock Dame Sheila Cameron Hancock (born 22 February 1933) is an English actress, singer, and author. Hancock trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before starting her career in repertory theatre. Hancock went on to perform in plays and musica ...

. In January 2020, the book was cited by the

Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum ( pl, Państwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau) is a museum on the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Oświęcim (German: ''Auschwitz''), Poland. The site includes the main concentration camp at Auschwi ...

, 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 The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

. In response, Boyne suggested that the Museum's criticism contained inaccurate information.

Controversy

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 A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

topics and for

misgendering Transphobia is a collection of ideas and phenomena that encompass a range of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger tow ...

people. In an article in ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' 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 Cis or cis- may refer to: Places * Cis, Trentino, in Italy * In Poland: ** Cis, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, south-central ** Cis, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, north Math, science and biology * cis (mathematics) (cis(''θ'')), a trigonome ...

'... 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". Writing in response to Boyne in ''The Irish Times'', Aoife Martin, director of the Trans Equality Network Ireland, asserted that "whether Boyne likes it or not, he is a cis man and he has cis privilege", and stated that "I haven’t read his new book". Boyne deleted his

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account, claiming social media harassment, though he would later rejoin the site. Some writers have supported him.

Selected works

Novels

*2000: ''The Thief of Time'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) *2001: ''The Congress of Rough Riders'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) *2004: ''Crippen'' (Penguin) *2006: ''Next of Kin'' (Penguin) *2008: ''Mutiny on the Bounty (''Doubleday'')'' *2009: '' The House of Special Purpose'' (Doubleday) *2011: ''

The Absolutist ''The Absolutist'' is a novel written by Irish novelist John Boyne John Boyne (born 30 April 1971) is an Irish novelist. He is the author of eleven novels for adults and six novels for younger readers. His novels are published in over 50 l ...

'' (Doubleday) *2013: '' This House Is Haunted'' (Doubleday) *2014: '' A History of Loneliness'' (Doubleday) *2017: ''

The Heart's Invisible Furies ''The Heart's Invisible Furies'' is a social novel by Irish novelist John Boyne John Boyne (born 30 April 1971) is an Irish novelist. He is the author of eleven novels for adults and six novels for younger readers. His novels are publish ...

'' (Doubleday) *2018: ''A Ladder To The Sky'' (Doubleday) *2020: ''A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom'' (Doubleday) *2021: ''The Echo Chamber'' (Doubleday)

Novels for younger readers

*2006: ''

'' (David Fickling Books) *2010: ''Noah Barleywater Runs Away'' (David Fickling Books) *2012: ''The Terrible Thing That Happened To Barnaby Brocket'' (Doubleday Children's) *2013: '' Stay Where You Are And Then Leave'' (Doubleday Children's) *2015: ''The Boy at the Top of the Mountain'' (Doubleday Children's) *2019: ''My Brother's Name is Jessica'' (Puffin)

Short story collections

*2015: ''Beneath The Earth'' (Doubleday)

Awards

* ''The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas'': winner: Irish Book Awards Children's Book of the Year; Irish Book Awards Radio 1 Book of the Year; Qué Leer Award Best International Novel of the Year (Spain); Orange Prize Readers Group: Book of the Year; Children's Books Ireland Book of the Year. Shortlist: Irish Book Award Novel of the Year; British Book Award; the Border's New Voices Award; the Ottar's Children's Book Prize; the Paolo Ungari Literary Award (Italy);

Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis The (German Youth Literature Award) is an annual award established in 1956 by the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth to recognise outstanding works of children's and young adult literature. It is Germany's only ...

(Germany). Longlist: The Carnegie Medal; the International IMPAC Literary Award * ''Noah Barleywater Runs Away'': shortlisted for Irish Book Awards Children's Book of the Year; Sheffield Children's Book Award, Hull Children's Book Award; Longlist: The Carnegie Medal * ''The Terrible Thing That Happened to Barnaby Brocket'': shortlisted for Irish Book Awards: Children's Book of the Year; Longlist: The Carnegie Medal * ''The Absolutist'': Longlist:

International Dublin Literary Award The International Dublin Literary Award ( ga, Duais Liteartha Idirnáisiúnta Bhaile Átha Chliath), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. ...

* ''Stay Where You Are And Then Leave'': shortlisted for Irish Book Awards Children's Book of the Year; Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (Germany) * ''A History of Loneliness'': shortlisted for Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year * ''The Boy At The Top Of The Mountain'': shortlisted for Irish Book Awards Children's Book of the Year; Children's Books Ireland Book of the Year * ''The Heart's Invisible Furies'': shortlisted for Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year * ''The 'Invisible Furies"'': 2017 Book of the Year for Book of the Month * ''A Ladder to the Sky'': shortlisted for Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year; Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award Other Awards: * 2012: Hennessy Literary Award Hall of Fame * 2014: Winner:

Irish Book Awards The Irish Book Awards are Irish literary awards given annually to books and authors in various categories. In 2018 An Post took over sponsorship of the awards from Bord Gais Energy. It is the only literary award supported by all-Irish bookstores. ...

: Short Story of the Year ('Rest Day') * 2015: Shortlist: Irish Book Awards: Short Story of the Year ('Boy, 19') * 2015: Gustav Heinemann Peace Prize (Germany)