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Events

EVENTS


I’m doing an online book tour for The Midnight Library in America. I hope to virtually see you there! Here are the dates:

October 5: The Strand (New York, NY) – , 5:00 pm ET: in conversation with Kristin Hannah

October 6: St. Louis County Library (St. Louis, MO) – 7:00 pm CT: in conversation with Carrie Robb

October 13: Warwick’s (La Jolla, CA) – 12:00 pm PT: in conversation with Margarita Montimore

October 17: Rakestraw Books (Danville, CA) – 9:30 am PT: in conversation with Patrick Nolan (ticketed)

October 26: Boswell and Books & Company (Milwaukee & Oconomowoc, WI) – 3:00 pm CT: in conversation with Daniel Goldin and Lisa Baudoin

 

Books

SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER 1

THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY IS A SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER 1 BESTSELLER!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone who has bought a copy.

And it’s getting some lovely reviews too: 

 ‘A beguiling read, filled with warmth and humour, and a vibrant celebration of the power of books to change lives’ Sunday Times

‘Just beautiful’ Fearne Cotton

‘It’s a rare and welcome light of hope and wisdom in the darkness…’ Joanne Harris

‘An uplifting, poignant novel about regret, hope and second chances’ David Nicholls

‘Love this man’s books’ Jodi Picoult 

‘A beautiful book to get lost in’ Zoe Ball, BBC Radio 2

‘The King of empathy’ Jameela Jamil 

 ‘Amazing and utterly beautiful, The Midnight Library is everything you’d expect from the genius storyteller who is Matt Haig’ Joanna Cannon

“Clever, emotional and thought-inspiring” Jenny Colgan

‘Haig is one of the most inspirational popular writers on mental health of our age and, in his latest novel, he has taken a clever, engaging concept and created a heart-warming story that offers wisdom in the same deceptively simple way as Mitch Albom’s best tales’ Independent

‘A brilliant premise and great fun’ Daily Mail

‘[A] highly original, thought-provoking novel about the importance of appreciating the life you have’ Independent

‘Thought-provoking, uplifting . . . Exploring our relationship with regret and what really makes a perfect life’ Harper’s Bazaar

‘Life-affirming . . . This one’s a firm keeper for the bookshelf’ Woman & Home

‘This touching story, which reminded me of It’s a Wonderful Life, is full of heart and wisdom’ Good Housekeeping

‘Haig’s combination of ingenious storytelling and all-round decency doesn’t just provide a highly satisfying read. It really does make you think about what makes for a life well lived’ Reader’s Digest

 ‘A tale of second chances and living with regrets . . . Very engaging . . . There’s an addictive element of voyeurism as you sample Nora’s different lives through her eyes and it leaves you wondering if regrets are worth the emotional labour that we invest in them’ Stylist

Books

DEAR NHS

So happy to write a letter for Adam Kay’s Dear NHS book! 

Here’s the publishers blurb:

Curated and edited by Adam Kay, Dear NHS features household names telling their personal stories of the health service.

All profits from this book will go to NHS Charities Together to fund vital research and projects, and The Lullaby Trust which supports parents bereaved of babies and young children.

The NHS is our single greatest achievement as a country. No matter who you are, no matter what your health needs are, and no matter how much money you have, the NHS is there for you. In Dear NHS, an amazing list of inspirational people come together to share their stories of how the national health service has been there for them, and changed their lives in the process. By turns deeply moving, hilarious, hopeful and impassioned, these stories together become a love letter to the NHS and the 1.4 million people who go above and beyond the call of duty every single day – selflessly, generously, putting others before themselves, never more so than now.

They are all heroes, and this book is our way of saying thank you.

Contributors include: Dolly Alderton, Monica Ali, Kate Atkinson, Pam Ayres, David Baddiel, Johanna Basford, Mary Beard, William Boyd, Frankie Boyle, Jo Brand, Kevin Bridges, Alex Brooker, Charlie Brooker, Rob Brydon, Bill Bryson, Kathy Burke, Peter Capaldi, Jimmy Carr, Candice Carty-Williams, Lauren Child, Lee Child, Bridget Christie, Emilia Clarke, Rev Richard Coles, Daisy May Cooper, Jilly Cooper, Fearne Cotton, Juno Dawson, Kit de Waal, Victoria Derbyshire, Reni Eddo-Lodge, Chris Evans, Anne Fine, Martin Freeman, Dawn French, Stephen Fry, Mark Gatiss, Ricky Gervais, Professor Green, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, Mark Haddon, Matt Haig, The Hairy Bikers, Naomie Harris, Miranda Hart, Victoria Hislop, Nick Hornby, Sali Hughes, Konnie Huq, Marina Hyde, E L James, Greg James, Sir David Jason, Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Jackie Kay, Peter Kay, Lorraine Kelly, Marian Keyes, Shappi Khorsandi, Nish Kumar, Stewart Lee, Joanna Lumley, Lee Mack, Emily Maitlis, Andrew Marr, Catherine Mayer, Alexander McCall Smith, Paul McCartney, Sir Trevor McDonald, Caitlin Moran, Kate Mosse, Jojo Moyes, David Nicholls, John Niven, Graham Norton, Chris O’Dowd, Dermot O’Leary, Jamie Oliver, Sir Michael Palin, Maxine Peake, Sue Perkins, Katie Piper, Ian Rankin, Jonathan Ross, Ed Sheeran, Paul Sinha, Frank Skinner, Matthew Syed, Kate Tempest, David Tennant, Louis Theroux, Dame Emma Thompson, Sandi Toksvig, Stanley Tucci, KT Tunstall, Johnny Vegas, Danny Wallace, Dame Julie Walters, Phil Wang, Emma Watson, Mark Watson, Robert Webb, Irvine Welsh, Jack Whitehall, Josh Widdicombe, Dame Jacqueline Wilson, Greg Wise, Malala Yousafzai, Benjamin Zephaniah.

Book News / Films / Kids News / News

A BOY CALLED CHRISTMAS MOVIE

STUDIOCANAL, Netflix and Blueprint Pictures are making a live action movie of A Boy called Christmas! It stars tonnes of amazing people, Jim Broadbent, Zoe Colletti, Toby Jones, Sally Hawkins, Maggie Smith, Henry Lawfull, Michiel Huisman, Rune Temte, Indica Watson & Kristen Wiig, and is simply a dream come true. The amazing Gil Kenan is directing. Ol Parker wrote the script! More info here and here.

Books

THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY

My new novel, The Midnight Library, is out on 13th August.

This is from the back cover:

Between life and death there is a library.

When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change.

The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren’t always what she imagined they’d be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger.

Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?

I’ve written an exclusive extra chapter for Waterstones and you can order that here.