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Boyne was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1971, and studied English Literature at Trinity College, Dublin, and creative writing at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, where he was awarded the Curtis Brown prize. He now offers a scholarship to Irish students undertaking the MA program at UEA.
He has published 9 novels for adults and five for younger readers, including The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas which was a New York Times No.1 Bestseller and was made into a Miramax feature film. It has sold more than 6 million copies worldwide. He is also the author of the short story collection Beneath The Earth.
He is a regular book reviewer for The Irish Times and has been a judge for both the Hennessy Literary Awards and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, as well as chairing the jury for the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize.
In 2012, he was awarded the Hennessy Literary 'Hall of Fame' Award for his body of work. He has also won 3 Irish Book Awards, for Children's Book of the Year, People's Choice Book of the Year and Short Story of the Year. He has won a number of international literary awards, including the Que Leer Award for Novel of the Year in Spain and the Gustav Heinemann Peace Prize in Germany. In 2015, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of East Anglia.
His novels are published in 51 languages.
John Boyne's website
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You dedicate The Heart's Invisible Furies to the author John Irving and indeed, this novel feels very "Irving-like." Is he one of your literary influences?
I read The Cider House Rules when I was 17 years old and quickly devoured all of John Irving's novels. Since then, he has been my favourite novelist. I admire his storytelling abilities but also his empathy for what he has always described as "sexual misfits." John was writing about transgender people, for example, in The World According to Garp, long before that was a subject that was talked about. When I published my first novel, The Thief of Time, in 2000, I sent John a copy of the book and a fan letter, telling him how much he had inspired me and he very kindly read the novel and wrote back. Since then we have become good friends and seen each other on many occasions. He has been a real mentor to me over the years and has given me some great advice. When I am with him, I still have to pinch myself and think I'm friends with John Irving! I wanted to dedicate a novel to him to thank him for his support and, because the subject matter of this novel ties in with the subject matter of some of his books, this felt like the right one....
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