'Fiction with a life of its own'

 

“Oneof the things that writing has taught me is that fiction has a life of its own.Fictional places are sometimes more real than the view from our bedroom window.Fictional people can sometimes become as close to us as our loved ones.”– Joanne Harris

  

Born in England on this date in 1964, Harris's novel Chocolat won literary acclaim and adaptation intoan Oscar nominated film starring Juliette Binoche, Judi Dench and Johnny Depp.  Her nearly three dozen books – both fiction and nonfiction – have won numerousawards and been published in more than 50 countries.   

 

Harrisstarted writing in elementary school and had stories published while still inhigh school.  Her early novels oftenfocused on mysticism, literary ghost stories and magic.  But since Chocolat’ssuccess, she's branched into a wide range of genres, including several books ofshort stories, a couple of cookbooks, fantasies basedon Norse mythology, and several psychological thrillers.  

 

Her latest novels are 2023's Broken Light and Maiden, Mother, Crone, and she is a frequentcontributor of travel articles and articles on literary themes to newspapersand magazines around the globe.  She’s also made a name for herself as aliterary judge for a number of major writing awards.    In2020 she wrote Ten Things About Writing,a well-received self-help book for writers. 

“I like literature that you respondto in some way,” she said.  “You laugh,you cry, you turn the light on - that's great, it's eliciting a response byproxy.  If you can actually get someone to sit on the edge of their seat andfeel nervous if there's a knock at the door, then you've done something prettyterrific as a writer.”

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