Modern English Literature

Jonathan Coe Jonathan Coe was born on 19 August 1961 in Lickey, a suburb of south-west Birmingham. His first surviving story, a detective thriller called The Castle of Mystery, was written at the age of eight.

While working on this thesis he also completed The Accidental Woman, which was the first of his novels to be accepted for publication. When it became obvious that his talents did not lie in a musical direction, he decided to concentrate exclusively on writing, publishing A Touch of Love in 1989 and The Dwarves of Death in 1990. The novel What a Carve Up. was completed in early 1993 and published by Penguin books one year later. It became his first international success, with translations in sixteen languages.

It was followed by The House of Sleep (1997), The Rotters' Club (2001), The Closed Circle(2004) and The Rain Before It Falls (2007). His ninth novel, The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim, was published in the UK in May 2010.

Stephen Fry Stephen Fry was born in Hampstead, London. His maternal grandparents were Hungarian Jewish immigrants, while his father's family was of English background. In 1984, Fry was engaged to do the rewrite of the Noel Gay musical "Me and My Girl," which made him a millionaire before the age of 30. Throughout the 1980s, Fry did a huge amount of television and radio work, as well as writing for newspapers (e.g. a weekly column in the "Daily Telegraph") and magazines (e.g. articles for "Arena").

He had successful runs in Alan Bennett's "Forty Years On," Simon Gray's "The Common Pursuit" with John Sessions, Rik Mayall, John Gordon Sinclair, and others. Fry has published four novels as well as a collection of his radio and journalistic miscellanea. He has recorded audiotapes of his novels (an unabridged version of "The Liar" was released in 1995), as well as many other works for both adults and children.

Joanne Harris Joanne Harris (MBE) was born in Barnsley in 1964. She was a teacher for fifteen years, during which time she published three novels, including Chocolat (1999), which was made into an Oscar-nominated film starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. Since then, she has written 15 more novels, two collections of short stories, a Dr Who novella, guest episodes for the game Zombies, Run and three cookbooks.

Her hobbies are listed in Who’s Who as: “mooching, lounging, strutting, strumming, priest-baiting and quiet subversion of the system”, although she also enjoys obfuscation, sleaze, rebellion, witchcraft, armed robbery, tea and biscuits. She is not above bribery and would not necessarily refuse an offer involving exotic travel or pink champagne. She works from a shed in her garden, plays bass in the band she first joined when she was 16, is currently writing a screenplay and lives with her husband and daughter in a little wood in Yorkshire.

John Boyne He was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1971. He’s published 9 novels for adults and five for younger readers, including The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas which was a New York Times no.1 Bestseller and was made into a Miramax feature film.

In 2012, John was awarded the Hennessy Literary ‘Hall of Fame’ Award for his body of work. His novels are published in 51 languages. A new novel, THE HEART’S INVISIBLE FURIES, will be published in the UK in February 2017.

J. K. Rowling British writer Joanne Kathleen Rowling, born July 31, 1965, is the creator of the wildly successful Harry Potter book series. She moved to Scotland in 1994 and finished her first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, in 1995.

Rowling went on to write six more Harry Potter books. Rowling also wrote Quidditch through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (both 2001). In 2007, Rowling produced seven individual copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard. In 2011, Rowling announced a new Harry Potter website called Pottermore, which features new and previously unpublished material about the world of Harry Potter. The Casual Vacancy (2012) is a novel aimed at adult readers.

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