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John Boyne Becomes Second Irish Author to Achieve 1m Sales in UK
Irish author John Boyne, and two other writers, are the latest members to an exclusive group the book trade in the UK refers to as “Millionaires Club” – selling over 1,000,000 copies of his novel ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ since official sales records began in the UK in 1998. This makes Boyne the second Irish novelist, after Cecelia Ahern, to become a member of the club.
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John Boyne Striped Pyjamas breaks 1 million copies in UK; only 2nd Irish author to do so! http://t.co/28MVJwAz
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Boyne’s historical drama explores the horror of a World War II extermination camp through the eyes of two eight-year-old boys; one the son of the camp’s Nazi commandant, the other a Jewish inmate.
The book sold 438,000 copies in the year its adaptation was released.
Trade publication The Bookseller reports on the latest new entries in the “Millionaires Club”.
Since records began in 1998, nine writers have seen two or more of their books become 1,000,000-plus bestsellers: J K Rowling (eight), Dan Brown (five), Stephenie Meyer (four), Stieg Larsson and Philip Pullman (both three), Julia Donaldson, Khaled Hosseini, Helen Fielding and J R R Tolkien (all two).
From JohnBoyne.com
Random House Children’s Publishing Managing Director Philippa Dickinson said the book has touched readers all over the world and the company is delighted that it has reached this milestone in the UK. The author’s next book The Terrible Thing that Happened to Barnaby Brocket is due to be released in August.
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas has sold over 5m copies worldwide since it was published in 2006. In 2008, the book was made into a motion picture. This is the film trailer:
From BirminghamMailNews
In 2012, people across Ireland voted The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas as their all-time favourite book.
Take a look at what Boyne says about his early career:
I was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1971, and studied English Literature at Trinity College, Dublin, and creative writing at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, where I was awarded the Curtis Brown prize.
My early writing consisted mostly of short stories and I published a number of them. My first story, The Entertainments Jar, was shortlisted for the Hennessy Literary Award in Ireland. In total, I’ve published about 70 short stories.
From John Boyne
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