Author Biography | Interview | Books by this Author | Readalikes
Rachel Joyce (b. 1962) moved to writing after her twenty-year career in theatre and television, where she performed leading roles for the RSC, the Royal National Theatre, The Royal Court, and Cheek by Jowl, winning a Time Out Best Actress award, the Sony Silver, and an Olivier.
Joyce has written over twenty original afternoon plays for BBC Radio 4, and has created major adaptations for the Classic series and Woman's Hour, as well as a TV drama adaptation for BBC2. In 2007 she won the Tinniswood Award for Best Radio Play.
Her debut novel, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, was on the longlist for the 2012 Man Booker Prize. In December 2012, she was awarded the "New Writer of the Year" award by the National Book Awards.
She is married to actor Paul Venables, and lives in Gloucestershire with her husband and four children.
Books
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (2012)
Perfect (2013)
The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy (2014)
A Snow Garden and Other Stories (2015)
The Music Shop (2017)
Rachel Joyce's website
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A Conversation Between Rachel Joyce and Charlotte Rogan
Charlotte Rogan worked at various jobs, mostly in the fields of architecture and engineering, before teaching herself to write and staying home to bring up triplets. The Lifeboat, her first published novel, was one of the 2012 Waterstones 11, a recognition for debut novels published in the United Kingdom; it was also chosen by the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Program and was nominated for the Guardian First Book Award. It is currently being translated into twenty-five languages. After many years in Dallas and a brief stint in Johannesburg, Rogan and her husband now live in Westport, Connecticut.
Charlotte Rogan: When my protagonist Grace Winter came to me, she was defending herself to some unseen authority for things she had done in an overcrowded lifeboat. The story grew from there. Did Harold Fry or the idea of a pilgrimage come to you first, or were the situation and the character inseparable from the start?
Rachel Joyce: The truth is that I don't know where the story came from. Harold and his journey to Queenie turned up in my head and I realized I wanted to write about them. I think I often don't understand what stories are about and why ...
Fredrik Backman is a Swedish author, blogger and columnist. He is the author of a work of nonfiction, Things My Son Needs to Know About Life, and a number of novels including A Man Called Ove, his first novel. Ove has sold ... (more)
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