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, the Prix du Roman FNAC in France, and the Gustav Heinemann Peace Prize in Germany for his work on Holocaust Education. 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 both the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, and longlisted for the Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle.

A new novel will be published in Autumn 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: ….. a new novel!

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

BOOK AWARDS

THE ELEMENTS

- 🥇WINNER: FNAC Prix du Roman (France)
- 🥇WINNER: Prix Femina Roman Étranger (France)
- Shortlist: Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger (France)
- Longlist: Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle (France)

EARTH

- Longlist: Polari Prize

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

- 🥇WINNER: The Glass Bell Award (UK)
- 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

- Shortlist: Edge Hill Short Story Award Book of the Year

A HISTORY OF LONELINESS

- Shortlist: Irish Book Awards: Novel of the Year

STAY WHERE YOU ARE AND THEN LEAVE

- Shortlist: Irish Book Awards: Children’s Book of the Year
- Shortlist: UKLA Book Award

THE TERRIBLE THING THAT HAPPENED TO BARNABY BROCKET

- 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

- 🥇WINNER: Stonewall Honor Award in Literature
- Shortlist: Lambda Literary Awards (USA)
- Longlist: International IMPAC Literary Award

NOAH BARLEYWATER RUNS AWAY

- Shortlist: Irish Book Awards: Children’s Book of the Year

THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE

- Shortlist: German Leserpreis Novel of the Year

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS

- 🥇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

- Shortlist: Irish Novel of the Year Award

THE THIEF OF TIME

- Shortlist: Irish Times Literary Prize

SHORT STORY AWARDS

1993: Shortlist: Hennessy Literary Awards: Fiction Prize

2014: 🥇WINNER: Irish Book Awards: Short Story of the Year: ‘Rest Day’

2015: Shortlist: Irish Book Awards: Short Story of the Year: ‘Boy, 19’