Matthew "Matt" Thorne (born 1974) is an English novelist, writer, and journalist.

Life and career

Thorne grew up in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, England, and was educated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Thorne's first book, ''Tourist'', was published in 1998. The book is an attack on the negative effects of tourism on

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmixon ...

, an English seaside town near Bristol. His second book ''Eight Minutes Idle'', which drew on Thorne's experiences of having worked in a call centre, was published in 1999 and won an

Encore Award The £10,000 Encore Award for the best second novel was first awarded in 1990. It is sponsored by Lucy Astor. The award fills a niche in the catalogue of literary prizes by celebrating the achievement of outstanding second novels, often neglecte ...

. Thorne's 2004 novel, ''Cherry'', was longlisted for the

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United King ...

. He is now married to Lesley Thorne and they have two sons, Luke and Tom. Thorne is a regular book reviewer for national newspapers, has written screenplays and plays for radio, and a trilogy of books for young adults, the ''39 Castles'' series, which chronicles the adventures of a group of high-spirited children. These novels create an imaginary England of the future where the modern day world has collapsed and where society has reverted to earlier ways, resembling

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

England. The world of these novels is similar to the England imagined by

Richard Jefferies John Richard Jefferies (6 November 1848 – 14 August 1887) was an English nature writer, noted for his depiction of English rural life in essays, books of natural history, and novels. His childhood on a small Wiltshire farm had a great influ ...

in his novel ''After London'', to which Thorne alludes in the final book of the trilogy, ''The White Castle''. In 2000, Thorne and his fellow novelist

Nicholas Blincoe Nicholas Blincoe is an English author, critic and screenwriter. He is the author of six novels: ''Acid Casuals'' (1995), ''Jello Salad'' (1997), ''Manchester Slingback'' (1998), ''The Dope Priest'' (1999), ''White Mice'' (2002), and ''Burning P ...

co-founded something of a literary movement, the

New Puritans The New Puritans was a literary movement ascribed to the contributors to a 2000 anthology of short stories entitled ''All Hail the New Puritans'', edited by Nicholas Blincoe and Matt Thorne. The project is said to have been inspired by the Dogme 9 ...

, whose

Dogme Dogme 95 is a 1995 avant-garde filmmaking movement founded by the Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, who created the "Dogme 95 Manifesto" and the "Vows of Chastity" ( da, kyskhedsløfter). These were rules to create films ba ...

-style manifesto pledged to bring simplicity and relevance back to contemporary British fiction. He is currently a writer-in-residence for the charity

First Story First Story is an English non-profit organisation that encourages young people to write creatively, outside the curriculum, for self-expression, pleasure and agency. Its stated mission is to empower young people from low-income communities to find ...

. In 2012 he published ''Prince'' on the artist of the same name. In 2014 a film adaptation of ''

8 Minutes Idle 8 Minutes Idle is an independent British film released in 2014 based on the book ''Eight Minutes Idle'' by Matt Thorne. It is billed as an offbeat Comedy drama where a young man is thrown out of his home and sleeps in the office of his call-centr ...

'' was released by BBC Films Thorne was a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Brunel University, London until summer 2020, after which he has been a teaching fellow at Royal Holloway, University of London.Brunel University Website
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References

External links

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thorne, Matt 1974 births Living people 20th-century English novelists Alumni of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Date of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) English male novelists 20th-century English male writers