Biography
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.
His 16th adult novel, The Weight of Angels, will be published in September 2026.
Bibliography
Novels:
- 2000: The Thief of Time
- 2001: The Congress of Rough Riders
- 2004: Crippen
- 2006: Next of Kin
- 2008: Mutiny on the Bounty
- 2009: The House of Special Purpose
- 2011: The Absolutist
- 2013: This House is Haunted
- 2014: A History of Loneliness
- 2017: The Heart’s Invisible Furies
- 2018: A Ladder to the Sky
- 2020: A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom
- 2021: The Echo Chamber
- 2022: All the Broken Places
- 2025: The Elements
- 2026: The Weight of Angels (forthcoming, September)
Novels for Younger Readers:
- 2006: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
- 2010: Noah Barleywater Runs Away
- 2012: The Terrible Thing that Happened to Barnaby Brocket
- 2013: Stay Where You Are and Then Leave
- 2015: The Boy at the Top of the Mountain
- 2019: My Brother’s Name is Jessica
Picture Books:
- 2024: The Dog Who Danced on the Moon
Short Story Collections:
- 2015: Beneath the Earth
Novellas:
- 2008: The Second Child
- 2009: The Dare
- 2023: Water
- 2024: Earth
- 2024: Fire
- 2025: Air
Literary Awards
AUTHOR AWARDS
2025: Shortlist: Irish Book Awards: Author of the Year
2022: 🥇WINNER: Irish Book Awards: Author of the Year
2021: Shortlist: Irish Book Awards: Author of the Year
2015: 🥇WINNER: Honorary Doctorate of Letters, UEA, England
2015: 🥇WINNER: Gustav Heinemann Peace Prize (Germany)
2012: 🥇WINNER: Hennessy Literary Awards: Hall of Fame Award
SHORT STORY AWARDS
2015: Shortlist: Irish Book Awards: Short Story of the Year: ‘Boy, 19’
2014: 🥇WINNER: Irish Book Awards: Short Story of the Year: ‘Rest Day’
1993: Shortlist: Hennessy Literary Awards: Fiction Prize
NOVEL AWARDS
THE ELEMENTS
-
- 🥇WINNER: FNAC Prix du Roman (France)
- 🥇WINNER: Prix Femina Roman Étranger (France)
- 🥇WINNER: Prix des Lecteurs de l’Horloge (France)
- Shortlist: Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger (France)
- Longlist: Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle (France)
EARTH
-
- Shortlist: Polari Prize: Novel of the Year
WATER
-
- Longlist: Dublin International Literary Award
THE ECHO CHAMBER
-
- Shortlist: Irish Book Awards: Novel of the Year
- Shortlist: Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction
A TRAVELLER AT THE GATES OF WISDOM
-
- Longlist: Wilbur Smith Prize: Best Novel
A LADDER TO THE SKY
-
- Shortlist: Irish Book Awards: Novel of the Year
- Shortlist: Irish Book Awards: Listeners Choice Book of the Year
- Shortlist: Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year
- Longlist: Dublin International Literary Award
THE HEART’S INVISIBLE FURIES
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- 🥇WINNER: The Glass Bell Award (UK)
- 🥇WINNER: Book of the Month: Book of the Year 2017 (USA)
- Shortlist: Irish Book Awards: Novel of the Year
- Longlist: Dublin International Literary Award
THE BOY AT THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN
-
- 🥇WINNER: Buxtehuder Bulle: German Book Prize
- Shortlist: Irish Book Awards: Children’s Book of the Year
- Shortlist: Children’s Books Ireland: Book of the Year
- Shortlist: Deutscher Jugendliteratur Preis
- Longlist: Carnegie Medal
BENEATH THE EARTH
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- Shortlist: Edge Hill Short Story Award Book of the Year
A HISTORY OF LONELINESS
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- Shortlist: Irish Book Awards: Novel of the Year
STAY WHERE YOU ARE AND THEN LEAVE
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- Shortlist: Irish Book Awards: Children’s Book of the Year
- Shortlist: UKLA Book Award
THE TERRIBLE THING THAT HAPPENED TO BARNABY BROCKET
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- Shortlist: Irish Book Awards: Children’s Book of the Year
- Shortlist: Children’s Books Ireland: Book of the Year
- Shortlist: Hull Children’s Book Award
- Shortlist: UKLA Book Award
- Shortlist: Little Rebels Award
- Longlist: Carnegie Medal
THE ABSOLUTIST
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- 🥇WINNER: Stonewall Honor Award in Literature
- Shortlist: Lambda Literary Awards (USA)
- Longlist: International IMPAC Literary Award
NOAH BARLEYWATER RUNS AWAY
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- Shortlist: Irish Book Awards: Children’s Book of the Year
THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE
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- Shortlist: German Leserpreis Novel of the Year
THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS
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- 🥇WINNER: Irish Book Awards: Children’s Book of the Year
- 🥇WINNER: Irish Book Awards: Listeners Choice Book of the Year
- 🥇WINNER: Bisto Book Awards: Book of the Year
- 🥇WINNER: Qué Leer Awards: International Novel of the Year (Spain)
- 🥇WINNER: Young People’s Literature Award (Catalan)
- 🥇WINNER: Orange Prize: Readers Group Book of the Year
- 🥇WINNER: Leeds Book Award
- 🥇WINNER: Nielsen Platinum Book Award
- 🥇WINNER: Nielsen Gold Book Award
- Shortlist: Irish Book Awards: Novel of the Year
- Shortlist: British Book Award: Children’s Book of the Year
- Shortlist: Berkshire Book Award
- Shortlist: Border’s New Voices Award
- Shortlist: Independent Booksellers Book of the Year
- Shortlist: Lancashire Book Award
- Shortlist: North-East Book Award
- Shortlist: Ottaker’s Children’s Book Prize
- Shortlist: Sheffield Book Award
- Shortlist: Prix Farniente (Belgium)
- Shortlist: Deutschen Jugend Literatur Preis (Germany)
- Shortlist: Paolo Ungari Literary Award (Italy)
- Shortlist: Flemish Young Readers Award
- Longlist: Carnegie Medal
- Longlist: International IMPAC Literary Award
CRIPPEN
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- Shortlist: Irish Novel of the Year Award
THE THIEF OF TIME
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- Shortlist: Irish Times Literary Prize