John Boyne
John Boyne
John Boyneis an Irish novelist. He is the author of nine novels for adults and five novels for younger readers. His novels are published in 50 languages...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth30 April 1971
CountryIreland
grandmother costumes pretending
It reminds me of how grandmother always had the right costume for me to wear. You wear the right outfit and you feel like the person you're pretending to be.
boys doors sky
Very slowly he turned his head back to look at Shmuel, who wasn't crying anymore, merely staring at the floor and looking as if he was trying to convince his soul not to live inside his tiny body anymore, but to slip away and sail to the door and rise up into the sky, gliding through the clouds until it was very far away.'' -The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
coward tumbling irony
Do you see the irony at all, Tristan?’ I stare at him and shake my head. He seems determined not to speak again until I do. ‘What irony?’ I ask eventually, the words tumbling out in a hurried heap. ‘That I am to be shot as a coward while you get to live as one.
ideas people world
We all are [normal]. Their idea of normal just happens to be different to some other people's idea of normal. But this is the world we live in. Some people simply cannot accept something that is outside of their experience.
taken alive life-is
It occurs to me that even though Zoya and I are both still alive, my life is already over. She will be taken from me soon and there will be no reason for me to continue without her. We are one person, you see. We are GeorgyandZoya.
opposed war
I am opposed to war, to killing people, to any kind of hatred and violence.
age wrote
I wrote my first book at 20, but my whole focus from about the age of 12 was to be a writer.
authors talk younger
Children's authors don't talk down or patronise their younger readers.
charles christmas dickens excite failed teenage throughout
Throughout my teenage years, I read 'A Christmas Carol' by Charles Dickens every December. It was a story that never failed to excite me, for as well as being a Dickens enthusiast, I have always loved ghost stories.
age children
I can remember being eight, and I like writing about that age of innocence when children still have a sense of wonder.
life suppose
I suppose books are my real passion in life.
glorify people tend war
People try to glorify war, particularly those who aren't actually fighting in them. People tend to make heroes of those who are fighting in them.
people unless
Unless you're very boring, I think most people who've lived long enough have something in their past which will never go away.
employed entirely far term
What makes a classic is difficult to define. It's entirely subjective, of course. And the term is employed far too promiscuously.