John Boyne

John Boyne is one of the most successful and critically acclaimed novelists of his generation. In a career spanning more than 30 years, he has published 15 novels for adults, 6 novellas, 6 novels for younger readers, a short story collection, and a picture book. His most famous book, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, was a New York Times No.1 Bestseller, and adapted for film, theatre, opera, and ballet, selling more than 11 million copies worldwide. It is used in schools on every continent to introduce young readers to their study of the Holocaust. Among his many international bestsellers are The Heart’s Invisible Furies, A Ladder to the Sky, and All the Broken Places. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Observer, The Times Literary Supplement, The Irish Times, and in dozens of international newspapers and magazines. He has won 4 Irish Book Awards, the Hennessy Literary ‘Hall of Fame’ Award, and many international literary prizes, including the Qué Leer Award for Novel of the Year in Spain, both the Prix Femina Étranger and the Prix du Roman FNAC in France, the Gustav Heinemann Peace Prize in Germany for his work on Holocaust Education, and a Stonewall Honor Award in the USA. In 2015, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of East Anglia. His novels are published in 60 languages, making him the most globally translated Irish writer of all time. Between 2023 and 2025, John published his acclaimed novella sequence, Water, Earth, Fire, and Air, which was subsequently collected into one volume, The Elements. Water was longlisted for the Dublin International Literary Award, Earth for the Polari Prize, while in France, The Elements won two of the most prestigious literary awards, the Prix Femina Étranger and the Prix du Roman FNAC, was shortlisted for the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, and longlisted for the Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle.