Matt Haig (born 3 July 1975) is an English author and journalist. He has written both fiction and non-fiction books for children and adults, often in the

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is a term that has been used with a variety of (sometimes contradictory) meanings. The broadest interpretation is as a category of fiction encompassing genres with elements that do not exist in reality, recorded history, na ...

genre.

Early life

Haig was born on 3 July 1975 in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

. He went on to study English and History at the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hull ...

Career

Haig is the author of both fiction and non-fiction for children and adults. His work of non-fiction, ''

Reasons to Stay Alive ''Reasons to Stay Alive'' is a novel and memoir written by novelist Matt Haig, published on 5 March 2015. It is based on his experiences of living with major depressive disorder, depression and anxiety disorder, which he suffered from the age of ...

'', was a number one Sunday Times bestseller and was in the UK top 10 for 46 weeks. His bestselling children's novel, ''Father Christmas and Me'', is currently being adapted for film, produced by

StudioCanal StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., Canal+ Production, and Canal+ Image and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film production and distribution company that owns ...

and Blueprint Pictures. His novels are often dark and quirky takes on family life. ''The Last Family in England'' retells

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Henry IV, Part 1 ''Henry IV, Part 1'' (often written as ''1 Henry IV'') is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. The play dramatises part of the reign of King Henry IV of England, beginning with the battle at ...

'' with the protagonists as dogs. His second novel ''Dead Fathers Club'' is based on ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'', telling the story of an introspective 11-year-old dealing with the recent death of his father and the subsequent appearance of his father's ghost. His third adult novel, ''The Possession of Mr Cave'', deals with an obsessive father desperately trying to keep his teenage daughter safe. His children's novel, '' Shadow Forest'', is a fantasy that begins with the horrific death of the protagonists' parents. It won the

Nestlé Children's Book Prize Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...

in 2007. He followed it with the sequel, ''Runaway Troll'', in 2008. Haig's vampire novel ''The Radleys'' was published in 2011. In 2013, he published ''The Humans''. It is the story of an alien who takes the identity of a university lecturer whose work in mathematics threatens the stability of the planet who must also cope with the home life which accompanies his task. In 2017, Haig published ''

How to Stop Time ''How to Stop Time'' is a historical fantasy novel by English writer Matt Haig, published in July 2017. Plot summary Tom Hazard has just moved back to London to take a job as a high school history teacher. He may look like an ordinary 41-year ...

'', a novel about a man who appears to be 40 but has, in fact, lived for more than 400 years and has met

Captain Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

and

F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...

. In an interview with ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', Haig revealed the book has been optioned by

films, and

Benedict Cumberbatch Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (born 19 July 1976) is an English actor. Known for his work on screen and stage, he has received various accolades, including a British Academy Television Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Laurence O ...

had been "lined up to star" in the film adaptation. ''Reasons to Stay Alive'' won the

Books Are My Bag Readers' Awards The Books Are My Bag Readers' Awards are annual literary awards presented by the Booksellers Association in the UK and Ireland since 2016. They are sponsored by National Book Tokens. History and administration The awards were launched at the 2016 ...

in 2016 and ''How to Stop Time'' was nominated in 2017. In August 2018, he wrote lyrics for English singer and songwriter

Andy Burrows Andrew William Burrows (born 30 June 1979) is an English songwriter and musician. He's best known as the drummer for Razorlight from 2004 until 2009 before rejoining in 2021. He's also served as the drummer for We Are Scientists from 2009 to ...

's music album, the title of which was derived from Haig's book ''Reasons to Stay Alive''. In 2020, Matt Haig released his novel '' The Midnight Library'' about a young woman named Nora Seed who is unhappy with her choices in life. During the night she tries to kill herself but ends up in a library managed by her school librarian, Mrs. Elm. The library is between life and death with millions of books filled with stories of her life had she made some decisions differently. In this library, she then tries to find the life in which she's the most content. It was shortlisted for the 2021

British Book Awards 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 Nationa ...

"Fiction book of the year". ''The Midnight Library'' was adapted for radio and broadcast in ten episodes on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

in December 2020. In 2021, Haig appeared on ''Storybound'', accompanied by an original score from Robert Wynia. ''The Comfort Book'' was released on 1 July 2021.

Personal life

, Haig was married to Andrea Semple, and they lived in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, with their two children and a dog. The children were

homeschool Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or an onlin ...

ed. Haig identifies as an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

. He has said that books are his one true faith, and the library is his church. Some of Haig's work—especially part of the non-fiction books—is inspired by the mental breakdown he suffered from when he was 24 years old. He still occasionally suffers from anxiety.

Works

Novels

*''The Last Family in England'' (

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...

, 2004); US title, ''The Labrador Pact'' *''

The Dead Fathers Club ''The Dead Fathers Club'' is a 2006 novel by Matt Haig. The book was published in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape and in the United States by Viking Press. The story is a retelling of William Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'', and thus an example of ...

'' (Cape, 2006) *''The Possession of Mr Cave'' (

The Bodley Head The Bodley Head is an English publishing house, founded in 1887 and existing as an independent entity until the 1970s. The name was used as an imprint of Random House Children's Books from 1987 to 2008. In April 2008, it was revived as an adul ...

, 2008) *'' The Radleys'' (

Canongate Books Canongate Books (trading as Canongate) is an independent publishing firm based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is named after the Canongate area of the city. It is most recognised for publishing the Booker Prizewinner ''Life of Pi''. Canongate was n ...

, 2010) *''The Humans'' (Canongate Books, 2013) *''

'' (Canongate Books, 2017) *'' The Midnight Library'' (Canongate Books, 2020) *''Tales of Connection'' (Van Ditmar, 2021), a selection of stories from ''Notes on a nervous planet'', ''The comfort book'' and ''Reasons to stay alive.''

Children's books

*'' Shadow Forest'' (2007); US title, ''Samuel Blink and the Forbidden Forest'' *''Runaway Troll'' (Cape, 2008); US title, ''Samuel Blink and the Runaway Troll'' *''To Be A Cat'' (Atheneum, 2013) *''Echo Boy'' (Bodley, 2014) *''A Boy Called Christmas'' (Canongate Books, 2015) *''The Girl Who Saved Christmas'' (Canongate Books, 2016) *''Father Christmas and Me'' (Canongate Books, 2017) *''The Truth Pixie'' (Canongate Books, 2018) *''Evie and the Animals'' (Canongate Books, 2019) *''The Truth Pixie Goes to School'' (Canongate Books, 2019) *''Evie in the Jungle'' (Canongate Books, 2020)

Non-fiction

*''How Come You Don't Have An E-Strategy'' (Kogan Page, 2002) *''Brand Failures'' (Kogan Page, 2003) *''Brand Royalty'' (Kogan Page, 2004) *''Brand Success'' (Kogan Page, 2011) *''

'' (Canongate Books, 2015) *''Notes on a Nervous Planet'' (Canongate Books, 2018) *''The Comfort Book'' (Canongate Books, 2021)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Haig, Matt 1975 births Living people 21st-century English male writers 21st-century English novelists Alumni of the University of Hull British writers English children's writers English atheists English male novelists Homeschooling advocates People from Brighton Writers from Sheffield