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| Gail Honeyman | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 1973 (age 50–51) Stirling, Scotland |
| Occupation | Writer, novelist, university administrator |
| Language | English |
| Alma mater | University of Glasgow University of Oxford |
| Notable works | Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine (2017) |
| Notable awards | Costa Book Award–First Novel (2017) |
Gail Honeyman (born 1972) is a Scottish writer whose debut novel, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, won the 2017 Costa First Novel Award.
Biography
Born and raised in Stirling in central Scotland to a mother who worked as a civil servant and a father in science, Honeyman was a voracious reader in her childhood, visiting the library "a ridiculous number of times a week".
She studied French language and literature at the University of Glasgow before continuing her education at the University of Oxford with a postgraduate course in French poetry. However, she decided that an academic career was not for her and started a string of "backroom jobs", first as a civil servant in economic development and then as an administrator at the University of Glasgow.
While working as an administrator, Honeyman enrolled in a Faber Academy writing course, submitting the first three chapters of what would become Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine to a competition for unpublished fiction by female writers, run by Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge. The novel, published in 2017, went on to earn numerous awards and wide critical acclaim.
Books
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine won the 2017 Costa First Novel Award, and since then Honeyman has been interviewed often, including by The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and Waterstones. Of her relationship with the book's titular character she told The Daily Telegraph: "Eleanor Oliphant isn't me, or anyone I know of course I've felt loneliness – everybody does".
In January 2018, Honeyman said she was working on a new novel, "set in a different period and location." A book with the acting title Gail Honeyman Untitled Book 2 (Harper Collins, ISBN 9780008172169) has been listed with publication date 12 September 2024 or 27 February 2025.
Awards
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| Year | Work | Award | Category | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine | Books Are My Bag Readers' Awards | Popular Fiction | Shortlisted | |
| Costa Book Awards | First Novel | Won | |||
| Waverton Good Read Award | — | Won | |||
| 2018 | Audie Award | Fiction | Finalist | ||
| Australian Book Industry Awards | International Book | Shortlisted | |||
| Authors' Club First Novel Award | — | Won | |||
| Books Are My Bag Readers' Awards | Readers' Choice | Won | |||
| British Book Award | Début Book of the Year | Won | |||
| The British Book Industry Awards | Overall | Won | |||
| Début Book of the Year | Won | ||||
| Desmond Elliott Prize | — | Shortlisted | |||
| Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award | — | Shortlisted | |||
| Independent Booksellers' Book Prize | — | Shortlisted | |||
| RUSA CODES Reading List | Women's Fiction | Shortlisted | |||
| 2019 | Comedy Women in Print Prize | Published Comedy Novel | Shortlisted | ||
| International Dublin Literary Award | — | Longlisted |
Bibliography
- —— (2017). Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780008172114.
- —— (2025). Untitled Book 2. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780008172169. Forthcoming.
References
- "Gail Honeyman". Book Series in Order. 7 April 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
- "Scots author wins prize for 'completely fantastic' first book". The Scotsman. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
- ^ "Costa First Novel Award Winner 2017" (PDF). Costa Book Awards. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 January 2018. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
- ^ "Scottish author Gail Honeyman: Turning 40 focused my mind..." Belfast Telegraph. 21 February 2018. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
- ^ "Meet the New Faces of Fiction for 2017". The Guardian. 22 January 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
- ^ Armitstaid, Claire (12 January 2018). "Gail Honeyman: 'I didn't want Eleanor Oliphant to be portrayed as a victim'". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
- Woods, Judith (15 May 2018). "Gail Honeyman: 'I hope Eleanor Oliphant has helped to fuel the debate on loneliness'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
- "Gail Honeyman Untitled Book 2". Bookshop.org. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
- Gail Honeyman Untitled Book 2. ASIN 0008172161.