Joanne Harris - Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

27/7/2014 Joanne Harris - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Joanne Harris

Joanne Harris at King's Chapel during the Gibraltar

International Literary Festival in 2013

Born 3 July 1964

Barnsley, Yorkshire, England

Occupation writer

Nationality British/French

Genres literary fiction, magic realism, fantasy,

gastromance.

Notable

work(s)

Chocolat, Blackberry Wine, Five

Quarters of the Orange Holy Fools,

Coastliners, Runemarks, Runelight,

Gentlemen and Players, The Lollipop

Shoes, Blueeyedboy, Peaches for

Monsieur le Cur.

Joanne HarrisFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joanne Michle Sylvie Harris MBE (born 3 July1964, Barnsley, Yorkshire) is an acclaimed British author,famous for writing the award-winning novel Chocolatwhich was later turned into a highly successful film.

Contents

1 Biography

2 Early life

3 Books

4 Recurrent Themes

5 Awards and Honours

6 Bibliography

7 References

8 External links

Biography

She was born in her grandparents' sweet shop. Herparents were both academics, teaching ModernLanguages and literature at a local grammar school. Herfirst language was French which caused divisions betweenher Yorkshire family, where no-one spoke French, andher Breton family, where no-one spoke English. Bothfamilies had turbulent histories and a tradition of strongwomen, kitchen gardening, storytelling, folklore and

cookery.[1]

Early life

Her writing began at an early age and was stronglyinfluenced by Grimms' Fairy Tales and the tales of Charles Perrault, as well as local folklore and Norse

mythology.[2]

She was educated at Wakefield Girls High School, Barnsley Sixth Form College, and St Catharine's College,Cambridge, where she studied Modern and Medieval Languages. After a single, unsuccessful year as an

accountant, which she describes as "like being trapped in a Terry Gilliam movie",[3] she trained as a teacher atSheffield University, and for fifteen years she taught modern languages, mostly at Leeds Grammar School, a



boys' independent school in Yorkshire. She also taught at Sheffield University, lecturing on aspects of Frenchliterature and film. During this period, she worked on a number of book projects, three of which (The EvilSeed, Sleep, Pale Sister and Chocolat) were published before she left teaching to become a full-time writer.

Books

Her first novel, The Evil Seed, was published in 1989, with only limited success. A second novel, Sleep, PaleSister, shows the way in which her style developed from horror-pastiche to literary ghost story. In 1999, herthird novel, Chocolat, a darkly magical modern folk-tale, thematically based on food and set in the Gers area ofFrance, reached No. 1 in the Sunday Times newspaper's bestseller list. The book won the Creative FreedomAward in 1999 and was shortlisted for the 1999 Whitbread Novel of the Year Award. The movie rights weresold to David Brown and developed by Miramax Pictures. The success of the motion picture, starring JulietteBinoche and Johnny Depp, brought Harris worldwide recognition, and in 2012 she became one of only fourfemale members of the "Millionnaires' Club," the elite group of authors who have achieved a million sales of one

book in the UK since records began.[4]

Since then, all Harris' books have been UK bestsellers. Her wide-ranging choice of subject matter means thather work often defies categorization, and she has a predilection for difficult or challenging issues. She has writtentwo more novels in the Chocolat series, continuing the adventures of Vianne Rocher; The Lollipop Shoes (re-titled The Girl With No Shadow in the US) and Peaches for Monsieur le Cur (Peaches for Father Francisin the US), as well as two French cookbooks (co-written with Fran Warde), two collections of short stories anda number of dark psychological thrillers, including Gentlemen and Players and Blueeyedboy. In August 2007she published Runemarks, a fantasy novel based on Norse mythology, aimed at both children and adults. Thesequel, Runelight, was published in 2011, and since then, the Rune books have acquired an enthusiasticfollowing alongside the fans of Vianne Rocher. Continuing the Norse mythology theme The Gospel of Loki waspublished in February 2014. This book tells of the rise and fall of the gods of Asgard from the point of view ofLoki the trickster.

Recurrent Themes

Some of Harris's recurrent themes are: issues of identity; mother/child relationships; the emotional resonance offood; the magic and horror of everyday things; the outsider in the community; faith and superstition; the joy ofsmall pleasures. She has spoken out against entrenched sexism in the literary field, and she has discussed howshe weaves a critique of sexist attitudes into her fiction:

For too long, women have been judged primarily on their looks rather than their abilities, and,even now in a world in which we can hardly move for political correctness men and women

are still viewed slightly differently in the world of music, literature and the creative arts. There isa patronizing smirk from the world of literature when a woman writes a romantic novel; but

when a man does the same thing, he is being sensitive and insightful, making a valuablestatement on the nature of relationships. In Runemarks, the same thing happens; a boy who

reads is intelligent and will go a long way; a girl who reads is clever, which is useless in a girl even potentially dangerous.

The Norse Mythology Blog's interview with Joanne Harris

Her writing style focuses on the senses, especially those of taste and smell. (This may be due to the fact that

Harris has a form of synaesthesia, in which she experiences colours as scents.[5]) Her novels are often muchdarker than the film adaptation of Chocolat would lead us to suppose, and characters are often emotionally



damaged or morally ambivalent. Father-figures are frequently absent, and mothers (e.g.:Blueeyedboy and FiveQuarters of the Orange) are often portrayed as controlling, harsh or even abusive. Harris favours a first-person, dual-narrator narrative structure, often revisiting past events to cast light on current developments. Thisgenerally makes for complex characterization, and even minor characters are often unusually well-developed.Her books have a very strong sense of place, with settings that play as significant a role as do the charactersthemselves. The fictional French village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes, the setting of Chocolat and Peaches forMonsieur le Cur, also features in Blackberry Wine, and the fictional Yorkshire village of Malbry is the settingfor both Blueeyedboy and Gentlemen and Players, as well as numerous short stories. Malbry is also the nameof Maddy's home in the Rune books, and seems to bear a certain resemblance to Harris' home village of

Almondbury.[6]

Awards and Honours

Harris' books are now published in over fifty countries and have won a number of UK and international awards,including:

Chocolat: Creative Freedom Award (2000); Whittaker Gold Award (2001). Shortlisted: Whitbread

Novel of the Year Award (2000), Scripter Award (2001); film version nominated for 8 BAFTAs and 5

Oscars.[7] Whittaker Platinum Award(2012).

Blackberry Wine: 2000 Winner of both the Foreign and International categories of the Salon du Livre

Gourmand (France).

Five Quarters of the Orange: Shortlisted: 2002 RNA Novel of the Year; Author of the Year 2002;

WHSmith Award 2002 (UK).

The French Kitchen: (a cookbook with Fran Warde): 2005 Winner of the Golden Ladle for Best

Recipe Book (softcover) in the World Food Media Awards.[8]

Gentlemen & Players: Shortlisted for the Edgar Award, 2007 (USA)[7] and the Grand Prix du Polar de

Cognac (France).[9]

Flavours of Childhood: (a piece co-written for the Radio 4 series First Taste with poet Sean o'Brien)

Winner of the Glenfiddich Award, 2006.[10]

In 2004, she was a judge for the Whitbread Prize (now the Costa), and in 2005, was a judge for the Orange

Prize.[11]

In 2013 she was on the judging panel of the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science [12] and chaired the

Desmond Elliott Prize.[13]

She is the holder of honorary doctorates in literature from the University of Huddersfield and the University ofSheffield, and is an Honorary Fellow of St Catharine's College, Cambridge.

She is a patron of the charities Mdecins Sans Frontires (Doctors Without Borders) and Plan UK, and hastraveled to Togo and to the Congo to report on their work. An account of her visit to the Congo was published

in Writing on the Edge,[14] a collection of essays by noted literary figures, with photographs by Tom Craig, in2010. She has also donated short stories to a number of charity anthologies, notably Piggybank Kids, theWoodland Trust, the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition and Breast Cancer UK.

In 2013 she was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.



She works from a shed in her back garden [15] and is active on Twitter, where she is known as@joannechocolat, and tumblr, ( http://joannechocolat.tumblr.com/ ) which she uses, along with her website'smessage board, to answer questions from her fans. She is married, and lives in Yorkshire with her husbandKevin and daughter Anouchka.

Bibliography

The Evil Seed (1989)

Sleep, Pale Sister (1993)

Chocolat (1999)

Blackberry Wine (2000)

Five Quarters of the Orange (2001)

The French Kitchen, A Cook Book (2002)

Coastliners (2002)

Holy Fools (2003)

Jigs & Reels (2004)

Gentlemen & Players (2005)

The French Market (2005)

The Lollipop Shoes (2007) (US title: The Girl With No Shadow, 8 April 2008)

Runemarks (2007 in the UK, 2008 in the US)

Blueeyedboy (1 April 2010 in the UK)

Runelight (September 2011 in the UK)

Peaches for Monsieur le Cur (May 2012) (US title: Peaches for Father Francis, October 2012)

A Cat, a Hat and a Piece of String (October 2012)

The Gospel of Loki (February 2014), as Joanne M. Harris

Stories featured in the following anthologies:

Magic (2002)A collection of stories in aid of Piggybank Kids.

Bosom Buddies (2003)A collection of stories in aid of Breast Cancer UK.

Journey to the Sea (2005)A collection of stories in aid of Piggybank Kids.

Mums - a Celebration of Motherhood (2006)A collection of stories in aid of Piggybank Kids.

Dads - a Celebration of Fatherhood (2007)A collection in aid of Piggybank Kids.

In Bed With... (2009)A collection of erotic stories by well-known female writers.

Because I am a Girl (2010)Charity anthology in aid of Plan UK.

Stories (2010) A collection of fantasy tales, edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio.

Writing on the Edge (2010): A collection of eyewitness accounts by well-known authors of extreme

conditions and war-torn locations. In aid of MSF.

Why Willows Weep (2011) Charity anthology in aid of the Woodland Trust.

Beacons (2013) Charity anthology in aid of the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition.



References

Authors at Transworld (http://www.booksattransworld.co.uk/joanneharris/home.htm)

Authortrek interview with Kevin Patrick Mahoney

(http://www.authortrek.com/joanne_harris_interview.html)

1. ^ "Joanne Harris, About the Author" (http://www.mostlyfiction.com/world/harris.htm). Mostly Fiction Book

Reviews. Retrieved 2008-05-27.

2. ^ "Seven Miles of Steel Thistles: The Pied Piper of Hamelin" (http://steelthistles.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/pied-

piper-of-hamelin.html). Steelthistles.blogspot.co.uk. 2012-04-20. Retrieved 2012-08-30.

3. ^ Harriet Lane (2001-07-14). "Interview: Joanne Harris | Books | The Observer"

(http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2001/jul/15/fiction.summerreading20011). London: Guardian. Retrieved

2012-08-30.

4. ^ Book Reviews (2012-05-18). "The Millionaire Authors' Club"

(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/9272388/The-Millionaire-Authors-Club.html). London:

Telegraph. Retrieved 2012-08-30.

5. ^ Williams, Andrew (2012-08-23). "Chocolat author Joanne Harris talks about her latest novel Blue Eyed Boy"

(http://www.metro.co.uk/metrolife/820774-chocolat-author-joanne-harris-talks-about-her-latest-novel-blue-

eyed-boy). Metro.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-08-30.

6. ^ Trees (2011-10-04). "British Tree Week: Best woodland walks"

(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/plants/trees/8804203/British-Tree-Week-Best-woodland-walks.html).

London: Telegraph. Retrieved 2012-08-30.

7. ^a b "Mrs Joanne Harris Authorised Biography Debretts People of Today, Mrs Joanne Harris Profile"

(http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/browse/h/22405/Joanne%20Mich%C3%A8le%20Sylvie+HARRIS

.aspx). Debretts.com. Retrieved 2012-08-30.

8. ^ Syntrx Solutions, http://www.syntrixsolutions.com. "2010 World Food Media Awards"

(http://www.worldfoodmediaawards.com/2005winners.html). Worldfoodmediaawards.com. Retrieved 2012-

08-30.

9. ^ "Le Rocher de Montmartre - - Joanne Harris | Editions Points" (http://www.lecerclepoints.com/livre-rocher-

montmartre-joanne-harris-9782757812754.htm). Lecerclepoints.com. 2009-11-26. Retrieved 2012-08-30.

10. ^ Institute of Advanced Study (2012-08-03). "Institute of Advanced Study : Lecture 5 - Durham University"

(http://www.dur.ac.uk/ias/events/thematic/figuringthehuman/obrien/). Dur.ac.uk. Retrieved 2012-08-30.

11. ^ "Joanne Harris | The Press, Christchurch Writers' Festival 2012" (http://chchwritersfest.co.nz/joanne-harris/).

Chchwritersfest.co.nz. 2012-07-06. Retrieved 2012-08-30.

12. ^ http://royalsociety.org/awards/science-books/. Missing or empty |title= (help)

13. ^ http://www.desmondelliottprize.org/. Missing or empty |title= (help)

14. ^ "Writing on the Edge: Great Contemporary Writers on the Front Line of Crisis: Amazon.co.uk: Dan Crowe,

Tom Craig: Books" (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Edge-Contemporary-Writers-

Crisis/dp/0847832910/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345287515&sr=1-1). Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved

2012-08-30.

15. ^ alex johnson (2011-02-23). "Exclusive: interview with shed-working author Joanne Harris"

(http://www.shedworking.co.uk/2011/02/exclusive-interview-with-shedworking.html). Shedworking. Retrieved

2012-08-30.



Wikimedia Commons hasmedia related to JoanneHarris.

Guardian feature, July 2001 (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2001/jul/15/fiction.summerreading20011)

External links

The Joanne Harris Website (http://www.joanne-harris.co.uk/)

RED interview (http://www.redonline.co.uk/red-women/red-

chat/joanne-harris-red-book-club-red-chat)

Norse Mythology Blog interview with Joanne Harris: Part 1

(http://www.norsemyth.org/2012/08/interview-with-joanne-harris-runemarks.html), 2

(http://www.norsemyth.org/2012/09/interview-with-joanne-harris-runemarks.html), 3

(http://www.norsemyth.org/2012/09/interview-with-joanne-harris-runemarks_14.html), 4

(http://www.norsemyth.org/2012/09/interview-with-joanne-harris-runemarks_26.html), 5

(http://www.norsemyth.org/2012/10/interview-with-joanne-harris-runemarks_12.html)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joanne_Harris&oldid=616981642"

Categories: 1964 births Living people English women novelists Academics of the University of Sheffield

Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge Magic realism writers

Members of the Order of the British Empire People from Barnsley English fantasy writers

English people of French descent English novelists Women short story writers

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