More Information & Critical Reviews
Nick Hornby was born in Redhill, Surrey, England, in 1957. He graduated from Cambridge University and taught English to foreign students while reviewing for magazines including Time Out and the Literary Review. His first book, a series of critical essays on American novelists, was published in 1992. Fever Pitch, his memoir of a life devoted to Arsenal football club, was published in 1992. It won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award and was adapted as both a play and a film, the latter starring Colin Firth. In 2012, it was recognised for its Outstanding Contribution to Sports Writing at the British Sports Book Awards.
His fiction continues to explore male obsessions, crises and weaknesses. His first novel, High Fidelity (1995), is the story of an obsessive record collector and list-maker, and was adapted as a film in 2000 starring John Cusack. His second novel, About a Boy (1998), focuses on the growing relationship between 30-something Will Freeman and Marcus, a 12-year-old boy. A film version, starring Hugh Grant, premiered in 2002. His novel, How to Be Good (2001), explores contemporary morals, marriage and parenthood. It won the WH Smith Award for Fiction in 2002. 31 Songs (2003), celebrates 31 songs of great significance to the author, and A Long Way Down (2005), was shortlisted for the 2005 Whitbread Novel Award and for a 2006 Commonwealth Writers Prize.
His latest novels are Slam (2007), Juliet, Naked (2009) and Funny Girl (2014).
In 1999 Nick Hornby was awarded the E. M. Forster Award by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His book The Complete Polysyllabic Spree (2006) is an account of his reading and a collection of columns from Believer magazine.
‘A writer who dares to be witty, intelligent and emotionally generous at once’ New York Times
‘Hornby’s prose is artful and effortless, his spiky wit as razored as a number-two cut’ Independent
‘Hornby writes with a funny, fresh voice which skewers male and female foibles with hilarious accuracy’ Guardian
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.