Matt Haig

Background

Matt Haig was born on July 3, 1977, in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

Education

Matt studied English and History at the University of Hull.

Career

After graduating Matt started writing young-adult or juvenile speculative fiction. He is also the author of several books on digital marketing, including the best-selling Brand Failures, which was republished in 2011 by KoganPage, and Mobile Marketing. He wrote a series of books on e-marketing and digital marketing.

As a journalist, he has contributed to The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Independent, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Face. His novels, the first of which was published in 2005, are often dark and quirky takes on family life. The Last Family in England retells Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1 with the protagonists as dogs. It was a best-seller in the United Kingdom and the film rights have been sold to Brad Pitt's Plan B production company with Taika Waititi directing. His second novel Dead Fathers Club is based on Hamlet, 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. He followed it with the sequel, Runaway Troll, in 2008.

Haig's vampire novel The Radleys, was published in 2011. A film adaptation of The Radleys has been announced, with Alfonso Cuarón attached to produce. Published in 2013, The Humans 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. The novel is in part an examination of mental illness and how those who suffer can become isolated.

In 2017, Haig published How 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 met Shakespeare, Captain Cook and F. Scott Fitzgerald. In an interview with The Guardian, Haig revealed the book has been optioned by StudioCanal films, and Benedict Cumberbatch had been "lined up to star" in the film adaptation. In August 2018, he wrote lyrics for English singer and songwriter Andy Burrows’ music album. The album was titled taken from Haig’'s book "Reasons to Stay Alive". His bestselling children's novel, Father Christmas and Me, is currently being adapted for film, produced by Studio Canal and Blueprint Pictures.

Achievements

• Matt Haig is an award-winning author. His work, Reasons to Stay Alive, won the Books Are My Bag Readers' Award in 2016. His children's novel, Shadow Forest, won the Nestlé Children's Book Prize in 2007.

Works

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  • Samuel Blink and the Forbidden Forest

    (Living in Norway with their eccentric Aunt Eda, Samuel an...)

    2007
  • Notes on a Nervous Planet

    (A follow-up to Matt Haig's internationally bestselling me...)

    2018
  • How to Stop Time

    (How to Stop Time tells a love story across the ages about...)

    2017
  • Reasons to Stay Alive

    (Matt Haig’s accessible and life-affirming memoir of his s...)

    2015
  • The Humans

    (When an extra-terrestrial visitor arrives on Earth, his f...)

    2013
  • Echo Boy

    (In order to stay human, Audrey has built a moat around he...)

    2014
  • Brand Failures

    (The Truth about the 100 Biggest Branding Mistakes of All ...)

    2003
  • To Be a Cat

    (Barney thinks being a cat would be easier than being a tw...)

    2013
  • The Girl Who Saved Christmas

    (Amelia Wishart was the first child ever to receive a Chri...)

    2017
  • Evie and the Animals

    (Eleven-year-old Evie has a talent. A talent that can let ...)

    2019
  • The Truth Pixie Goes to School

    (New school. New friends. Same old pixie. An uplifting sto...)

    2019
  • The Radleys 2010
  • A Boy Called Christmas 2015
  • Brand Royalty 2004
  • The Dead Fathers Club 2007
  • The Dead Fathers Club 2006
  • The Possession of Mr. Cave 2008

Connections

Haig is married to Andrea Semple; they have two children.

Spouse:

Andrea Semple