Alice Oseman

Alice Oseman (born 16 October 1994)[1] is a British author of young adult fiction. She secured her first publishing deal at 17, and had her first novel, Solitaire, published in 2014.[2] She is also the author of Radio Silence, I Was Born For This and the web comic Heartstopper. Her novels focus on contemporary teenage life in the UK. Her novels received several awards – Inky Awards and United By Pop Awards.

Alice Oseman
Born (1994-10-16) 16 October 1994
NationalityBritish
GenreYoung Adult Fiction
Website
aliceoseman.com

Works

Alice Oseman was born in Kent, and educated at Rochester Grammar School.[3] Her debut novel, Solitaire,[4] was published by HarperCollins in 2014 following a bidding war.[2] It follows the story of Tori Spring, a pessimistic teenager, who meets Michael, her polar opposite- an unbelievable optimist. They attempt to find out who is behind the pranks at their school, which get more serious as the novel progresses. Other characters include her brother Charlie, who has a severe eating disorder, and is explored more in Oseman's web comic Heartstopper. The novel explores themes such as friendship, mental health issues and LGBT+ relationships.

Oseman published two ebook novellas based on characters from Solitaire, titled Nick and Charlie (July 2015) and This Winter (November 2015). Both were published by Harper Collins Children's Books.[5]

In 2016 she published her second novel, Radio Silence.[6] The novel follows Frances, a high-achiever whose life revolves around her admission to Cambridge, who meets the shy creator behind her favourite podcast, Aled. Themes such as academic pressures and LGBT+ relationships and identities are central to the novel. Oseman has been open in interviews about how Frances' experience in Radio Silence was similar to her own school pressure and a later disillusionment with academia following her education at Durham University.[7] This novel has been praised for representing characters of various ethnicities, genders and sexualities.[8] Oseman has often written about the importance of writing diversely on her blog and has spoken about the lack of diversity in Solitare in interviews.[9][10][11] The novel won the 2017 Silver Inky Award for young adult literature.[12]

Her third book, entitled I Was Born For This, was published in May 2018.[13] It follows the story of Fereshteh "Angel" Rahimi and Jimmy Kaga-Ricci. The story is about a band called The Ark and their fandom, with a particular focus on fandom among teenagers.[14] One reviewer said that a message in the book was that you can be a part of a fandom, but you have to make sure you don't lose yourself in it, and being an extreme fan can prevent those in the spotlight from feeling like they can be themselves.[15]

She is also the author/artist of the web comic Heartstopper[16][17] (ongoing), which follows the romantic relationship between Charlie Spring (brother of Tori Spring) and Nick Nelson, both of whom are characters featured in Solitaire. The first four volumes of the comic have been acquired by Hachette Children's Group.[18] Volume one was published in February 2017, volume two in July 2019, volume three in February 2020.[19]

Oseman's novels have been praised for being "relatable"[20] and realistic in regards to their portrayal of contemporary teenage life. Her first book Solitaire was particularly praised due to her young age at the time of the publishing deal, which contributed to a BBC Breakfast interview on 22 July 2014.

In 2018, to celebrate the release of her third Young Adult novel, I Was Born For This, all of Alice's published books received new, matching covers.[21] The re-designed covers were released in May, along with the new book.

Bibliography
  • Solitaire (HarperCollins young adult Books, 2014)
  • Nick and Charlie (ebook, HarperCollins young adult Books, 2015)
  • This Winter (ebook, HarperCollins young adult Books, 2015)
  • Radio Silence (HarperCollins young adult Books, 2016)
  • I Was Born For This (HarperCollins young adult Books, 2018)
  • Loveless (HarperCollins young adult Books, 2020)
  • Heartstopper graphic novel
    • Heartstopper: Volume 1 (Hodder young adult Books, 2019)
    • Heartstopper: Volume 2 (Hodder young adult Books, 2019)
    • Heartstopper: Volume 3 (Hodder young adult Books, 2020)

Awards and nominations
Year Award Category Nominee Result
2017 Inky Awards Silver Inky (International Fiction) Radio Silence Won
2018 United By Pop Awards[22] YA Book of the Year I Was Born For This Won

References
  1. "FAQ: ABOUT ME". chronicintrovert.tumblr.com. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  2. "Teenager's tale of angst wins six-figure deal | The Sunday Times". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
  3. Alice Oseman: a literary sensation at 16 years old. The Times, 11 August 2014.
  4. jboo1698 (5 October 2014). "Solitaire by Alice Oseman – review". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  5. "Alice Oseman".
  6. HorseLover3000 (31 March 2016). "Radio Silence by Alice Oseman – review". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  7. "Radio Silence by Alice Oseman – Behind | BookPage". BookPage.com. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  8. "Book Review: Radio Silence (Alice Oseman) – Maia and a Little Moore". maiaandalittlemoore.com. Archived from the original on 15 May 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
  9. Sproull, Patrick (22 February 2016). "Alice Oseman: Romance is not the centre of my world". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  10. "Hi Alice I really want to write more diversely,..." alice oseman. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
  11. "alice oseman". alice oseman. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
  12. "2017 Inky Winners Announced! | Inside A Dog". insideadog.com.au. Archived from the original on 29 August 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  13. https://www.fantasticfiction.com, webmaster@fantasticfiction.com -. "I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman". fantasticfiction.com. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  14. "I Was Born For This". goodreads.com. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  15. Stocka, Isabella (30 January 2019). "Review: I Was Born For This by Alice Oseman". The Nerd Daily. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  16. "HEARTSTOPPER". heartstoppercomic.tumblr.com. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  17. Wednesday; February 19; Pm, 2020-05:00 (19 February 2020). "Drawn to reading: Using comics and illustrated stories to promote literacy in children". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 25 February 2020.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  18. "HCG expands on Oseman's graphic novel series | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  19. "Alice Oseman".
  20. confessionsofabooklover (10 May 2016). "Radio Silence by Alice Oseman – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
  21. "Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  22. "United By Pop Awards". United By Pop. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
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