Matt Haig: biography, books, reviews

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

British writer Matt Haig is the author of great books. His works have won the hearts of both adults and young readers around the world. Matt Haig's biography is full of interesting events, many of which influenced his development as a writer.

Education

The future writer was born on July 3, 1975 in one of the greenest cities in Europe - Sheffield. Due to certain family circumstances, his childhood years were spent in Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire. In his youth, Matt Haig was enrolled at the University of Hull, where he studied English and history in depth.

Private life

Like most writers, actors, musicians and other world-famous creative people, not much is known about Matt Haig's personal and family life. This is easy to explain, since writers transfer their souls to paper, open their world, share thoughts, ideas, views on life, and that is why they really want to leave at least a piece of the universe in which the closest and dearest live, away from other people's views and discussions. It is known that the biography of Matt Haig was overshadowed by mental sufferingand depressive disorders at age 24.

Perhaps the books became the medicine for his soul, the very “Morpheus pill” that pulled him out of the destructive world of sad thoughts, reborn him, breathed in a new way of thinking, the ability to look at the world differently. In one of his interviews, the writer said that depression is that it is useless, it has no form, and stories, on the contrary, have it, in connection with this, books have found a place on the shelf of his peculiar antidepressants.

After some time, Matt Haig meets the beautiful Andrea Semple, soon they have two children. Such rapid events even faster help to forget about the difficult periods of adolescence. The joy of communicating with children, the desire to invest in them overwhelm oneself, and the inspired author begins to write children's books. One of the great things about writing for toddlers, the author notes, is that you have the opportunity to explore various potentially serious problems with the help of fantasy. Perhaps this is the main motive that explains the psychological aspirations, the chosen genres and the given atmosphere of his creation.

Career

The variety of professions that Matt Haig has changed is surprising and makes one draw conclusions. Trying to hear the call of his heart, he first plunged into work in a nightclub in Spain, then organized his own Internet marketing company, and only then "came out from behind the scenes" and became a world-famous writer. Starting to cooperate with The Guardian publications,The Sunday Times, Sydney Morning Herald, The Face, The Independent, he has climbed a new rung on the career ladder.

Creative Hours

The novelist and future children's writer drew great inspiration from such famous writers as Shakespeare, Hemingway, equaling their style of work. He tried not to attribute the word "work" to his writing occupation and replaced it with an easy and unconstrained "habit". At first, Haig measured the quality of the written texts by the number of words, but this did not last long. Over time, Matt developed his own mechanisms for achieving a high-quality style and correct semantic presentation. The writer admits that he does not always work fruitfully and, like everyone else, he has months of stagnation.

Matt Haig shared information that he writes better in the morning than in the evening. In moments of insomnia, out of habit, he grabs a laptop and, at a minimum screen brightness, so as not to wake his wife, begins to create. He notes that there are hours, such as from 5 to 7 in the morning, that can be more productive for him than all day until night.

Free time

In the morning hours, Matt runs along Brighton's beach. He believes that this is an essential component for maintaining mental he alth and maintaining peace of mind. The writer admits that often while jogging he is visited by thoughts regarding creative activity. He likes to brainstorm ideas for new pieces alone.

Matt devotes time after jogging to yoga classes, which brings additional benefits for the psyche and makes further work moreproductive.

Books by Matt Haig

The debut novel "The Last Family in England" was published in 2005. The book subsequently became a bestseller in the UK.

Haig's second novel, The Dead Fathers Club, is based on Hamlet. The author laughed it off, saying that only 3% of his books are in the spirit of Shakespeare, and he borrowed the remaining 97% from Return of the Jedi. A series of children's books followed, one of which, Samuel Blink and the Forbidden Forest, won multiple British literary awards.

In 2009, the sequel to the novel "Runaway Troll" was released.

And already in 2010, the writer published the novel "The Radley Family". The work tells about the life of a family of vampires living in a small British town. Vampire books have become very popular among a wide range of readers of all ages. In early 2011, the book was translated into Russian.

One of the best-selling works of the author was the book "People and I", written in 2013. The fantastic metaphors used by the author vividly and clearly reveal the feelings and emotions of a person during a midlife crisis.

Also in 2013, another incredible book came out - "Being a Cat". It touches on one of the author's favorite topics - the exchange of bodies. It can be said that a certain sadness that permeates the children's books of Matt Haig - hiskind of a message to adults through stories centered on children.

The memoir "A Reason to Stay Alive" has long been a number one bestseller, spending 46 weeks in the UK Top Ten. The children's book A Boy Named Christmas was also a runaway hit. Today, the novel has been translated into more than 25 languages.

Matt Haig wins Book Club TV Award. His children's novels have won the Smarties Gold Medal, Blue Peter's Book of the Year, been shortlisted for the Water Children's Book Award, and nominated for the Carnegie Medal three times.

Reviews

Matt Haig's books are loved by readers of all ages around the world. The way the author expresses his thoughts on the pages of books, as well as the intriguing plot of his works, cannot leave anyone indifferent.

Reviews about books are mostly positive and enthusiastic, which makes people instantly burn with the desire to quickly immerse themselves in the world of reading. Wonderful literature for children, teenagers and adults, which touches on issues that are important at a certain age. After reading one book, it is very difficult to stop - I want to get to know the writer's work more deeply.

The author, who managed to get such positive feedback from the public and make thousands of people fall in love with his work, truly deserves great gratitude and a place in the hearts of connoisseurs of the artistic word!