John Boyne is one of the most successful and critically acclaimed novelists of his generation. Join us to hear about his life & new book.

John Boyne is one of the most successful and critically acclaimed novelists of his generation. Join us to hear him talk about his life, his writing career and his new book The Weight of Angels.

A FARSLEY LIT FEST 2026 EVENT

Like Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet and Percival Everett’s James, in The Weight of Angels, John Boyne explores one of the great what-if stories of modern literature, imagining the life that Oscar Wilde never had. John gives the great Anglo-Irish poet and playwright a fresh new voice and the opportunity to take an entirely different path.

In a career spanning more than 30 years, John has published 15 novels for adults, 6 novellas, 6 novels for younger readers, a short story collection, and a picture book. His most famous book, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, was a New York Times No.1 Bestseller, and adapted for film, theatre, opera, and ballet, selling more than 11 million copies worldwide. It is used in schools on every continent to introduce young readers to their study of the Holocaust.

The event will include a book signing. Doors at 7pm.

Among his many international bestsellers are The Heart’s Invisible Furies, A Ladder to the Sky and All the Broken Places. Between 2023 and 2025, John published his acclaimed novella sequence, Water, Earth, Fire, and Air, which was subsequently collected into one volume, The Elements.

About the Book

Can one rash decision prove the difference between a life well lived and a life destroyed? When the Marquis of Queensbury left his calling card at the Albemarle Club in February 1895, it bore only his name and five words: ‘For Oscar Wilde, posing Somdomite’. The most feted playwright of his day famously sued for libel, which led to his arrest, criminal prosecution and ultimately prison. From then on, his gilded existence spiralled into public disgrace, humiliation and an early death.

‘John Boyne is one of our best authors writing today. The Weight of Angels is wise, imaginative, funny, and extremely moving. Art and Life, Tragedy and Love, you’ll find them all here in this rich and magnificent novel!’ – Tan Twan Eng, Booker longlisted author of The House of Doors

Description supplied by the event organiser.