Joseph Connolly (born March 23 1950) is an English journalist, novelist, and non-fiction writer.

Biography

For many years he owned The Flask Bookshop in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

, London. Having started writing fiction rather late in life, he is best known today for

comic novel A comic novel is a novel-length work of humorous fiction. Many well-known authors have written comic novels, including P. G. Wodehouse, Henry Fielding, Mark Twain, and John Kennedy Toole. Comic novels are often defined by the author's literary ...

s, especially in France, where they have been translated by Alain Defossé. He also contributes to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' and other publications. His son is Charles Connolly, a musician. The two live in Hampstead.

Work

Novels

*''

Poor Souls All Souls' Day, also called ''The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed'', is a day of prayer and remembrance for the faithful departed, observed by certain Christian denominations on 2 November. Through prayer, intercessions, alms and ...

'' (1985) *''This Is It'' (1996) *''Stuff'' (1997) *''Summer Things'' (1998) (filmed in France in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

Michel Blanc Michel Blanc (born 16 April 1952) is a French actor, writer and director. He is noted for his roles of losers and hypochondriacs. He is frequently associated with Le Splendid, which he co-founded, along with Thierry Lhermitte, Josiane Balasko, ...

as ''

Embrassez qui vous voudrez ''Summer Things'' (french: Embrassez qui vous voudrez; it, Baciate chi vi pare, also known as ''See How They Run'') is a 2002 French-British-Italian romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Michel Blanc, based on the 1998 novel of t ...

'' starring

Charlotte Rampling Tessa Charlotte Rampling (born 5 February 1946) is an English actress, known for her work in European arthouse films in English, French, and Italian. An icon of the Swinging Sixties, she began her career as a model. She was cast in the role ...

Jacques Dutronc Jacques Dutronc (born 28 April 1943) is a French singer, songwriter, guitarist, composer, and actor. He married singer Françoise Hardy on 30 March 1981 and together they have a son (manouche jazz) guitarist Thomas Dutronc, born 1973); they sep ...

and

Carole Bouquet Carole Bouquet (born 18 August 1957) is a French actress who has appeared in more than 60 films since 1977. In 1990, she was awarded the César Award for Best Actress for her role in ''Too Beautiful for You''. She was the face of Chanel No. 5 f ...

) *''Winter Breaks'' (1999) *''It Can't Go On'' (2001) *''S.O.S.'' (2001) *''The Works'' (2003) *''Love Is Strange'' (2005) *''Jack the Lad and Bloody Mary'' (2007) *''England's Lane'' (2012) *''Boys and Girls'' (2014) *''Style'' (2015) *''This is 64'' (2016) Most of his novels were published by

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...

. ''England's Lane'', ''Boys and Girls'', ''Style'', and ''This is 64'' were published by

Quercus An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably '' ...

."English Publications"
''josephconnolly.co.uk''. Retrieved 2013-05-02.

Non-fiction

*''Collecting Modern First Editions'' (1975) (a standard work on

book collecting Book collecting is the collecting of books, including seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever books are of interest to a given collector. The love of books is ''bibliophilia'', and someo ...

) *''Modern First Editions: Their Value to Collectors'' (1984) *''Children's Modern First Editions: Their Value to Collectors'' (1988) *''

P.G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jee ...

'' (1979) (biography) *''

Jerome K. Jerome Jerome Klapka Jerome (2 May 1859 – 14 June 1927) was an English writer and humourist, best known for the comic travelogue ''Three Men in a Boat'' (1889). Other works include the essay collections '' Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow'' (1886) an ...

'' (1982) (biography) *''Beside the Seaside'' (1999) *''All Shook Up: A Flash of the Fifties'' (2000) *''Christmas And How to Survive It: Laughter Matters'' (2003) *''

Eighty Years of Book Cover Design ''Eighty Years of Book Cover Design'' is a 2009 book by Joseph Connolly (author), Joseph Connolly published by Faber and Faber. It illustrates the distinctive cover designs used by Faber over the years. External links Reviewin ''The Guardian'' ...

'' (2008) *''The A-Z of Eating Out'' (2014)

References

External links

Official JosephConnolly.co.uk
official website *

"Sharing an Ashtray with ... Joseph Connolly" (interview)
Hasweb.org
The Hampstead Authors' Society

A review of ''Love Is Strange'' from the ''

Camden New Journal The ''Camden New Journal'' is a British independent newspaper published in the London Borough of Camden. It was launched by editor Eric Gordon (who died on 5 April 2021, aged 89) in 1982 following a two-year strike at its predecessor, the ''Ca ...

'' (includes author photograph)
Findarticles.com
Joseph Connolly on

Kingsley Amis Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social an ...

(''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 20 August 2005) *
Ham and High
Charles Connolly in the Hampstead High. {{DEFAULTSORT:Connolly, Joseph 1950 births Living people People from Hampstead 20th-century English novelists 21st-century English novelists English male journalists English male novelists 20th-century English male writers 21st-century English male writers