Matt Haig (born 3 July 1975) is an English author and journalist. He has written both fiction and non-fiction books for children and adults, often in thespeculative fiction genre.
Haig is the author of both fiction and non-fiction for children and adults.[5] His work of non-fiction,Reasons to Stay Alive, was a number one Sunday Times bestseller and was in the UK top 10 for 46 weeks. His children's novel,A Boy Called Christmas, was adapted for film which was produced byStudioCanal and Blueprint Pictures.[6]
His novels are often dark and quirky takes on family life.The Last Family in England retellsShakespeare'sHenry IV, Part 1 with the protagonists as dogs. His second novelThe Dead Fathers Club is based onHamlet, telling the story of an introspective 11-year-old dealing with the recent death of his father and the subsequent appearance of his father's ghost. His third adult novel,The Possession of Mr Cave, deals with an obsessive father desperately trying to keep his teenage daughter safe. His children's novel,Shadow Forest, is a fantasy that begins with the horrific death of the protagonists' parents. It won theNestlé Children's Book Prize in 2007.[7] He followed it with the sequel,Runaway Troll, in 2008.[8]
Haig's vampire novelThe Radleys was published in 2011.[9] In 2013, he publishedThe Humans. It is the story of an alien who takes the identity of a university lecturer whose work in mathematics threatens the stability of the planet who must also cope with the home life which accompanies his task.[10]
In 2017, Haig publishedHow to Stop Time, a novel about a man who appears to be 40 but has, in fact, lived for more than 400 years and has metShakespeare,Captain Cook andF. Scott Fitzgerald. In an interview withThe Guardian, Haig revealed the book has been optioned byStudioCanal films, andBenedict Cumberbatch had been "lined up to star" in the film adaptation.[11]Reasons to Stay Alive won theBooks Are My Bag Readers' Awards in 2016 andHow to Stop Time was nominated in 2017.[12] In August 2018, he wrote lyrics for English singer and songwriterAndy Burrows's music album, the title of which was derived from Haig's bookReasons to Stay Alive.[13]
In 2020, Matt Haig released his novelThe Midnight Library about a young woman who is unhappy with her choices in life. During the night she tries to kill herself but ends up in a library managed by her school librarian. The library is between life and death with millions of books filled with stories of her life had she made some decisions differently. In this library, she then tries to find the life in which she's the most content.[14] It was shortlisted for the 2021British Book Awards "Fiction book of the year".[15]The Midnight Library was adapted for radio and broadcast in ten episodes onBBC Radio 4 in December 2020.[16]
In 2021, Haig appeared onStorybound, accompanied by an original score from Robert Wynia.[17]
The Comfort Book was released on 1 July 2021.[18]The Life Impossible was published in 2024 about Grace, a recent widower who unexpectedly inherits a house in Ibiza and after travelling there she discovers she has superpowers. She sets out to solve the mystery of her old acquaintance's death. A review described it as magic realism and a wise and moving novel.[19]
Haig married Andrea Semple whom he knew since they were teenagers, and they live inBrighton,Sussex, with their two children—Lucas (born 2008) and Pearl (born 2009)—and a dog.[4][20][21][22] The children werehomeschooled.[23]
Haig identifies as anatheist.[20] He has said that books are his one true faith, and the library is his church.[24]
Some of Haig's work — especially part of the non-fiction books — is inspired by the mental breakdown he suffered from when he was 24 years old.[25] He still occasionally suffers fromanxiety. He has been diagnosed withattention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) andautism.[26]
.jpg)
.jpeg)
