Susie Boyt

Susie Boyt
Born1969
OccupationJournalist, novelist

Susie Boyt FRSL (born January 1969) is a British novelist and journalist. She has published seven novels, and a memoir about her obsession with Judy Garland. Boyt was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2022.

Life

Boyt is the youngest of five daughters of Suzy Boyt and artist Lucian Freud, and great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud. Boyt was educated at Channing and at Camden School for Girls and read English at St Catherine's College, Oxford, graduating in 1992. As a student her boyfriend died in a climbing accident. She later trained as a bereavement counsellor, and bereavement features as a theme in her novels.

Working variously at a PR agency, and a literary agency, she completed her first novel, The Normal Man, which was published in 1995 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. She returned to university to do a Masters in Anglo American Literary Relations at University College London, studying the works of Henry James and the poet John Berryman.

As of January 2025, Boyt has published seven novels, the most recent being Loved and Missed (2021). In 2008, she published My Judy Garland Life, a layering of biography, hero-worship and self-help. The book was serialised on Radio 4, shortlisted for the PEN Ackerley prize and adapted as a musical by Amanda Whittington. In 2018 she edited The Turn of the Screw and Other Ghost Stories for Penguin.

Boyt's journalism includes a column in the weekend Life & Arts section of the Financial Times. She is married to Tom Astor, a film producer. They live with their two daughters in London. Boyt is a director at the Hampstead Theatre.

Boyt was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2022.

Novels

Non-fiction

Awards and nominations

  • The Last Hope of Girls was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize
  • Only Human was shortlisted for the Mind Book of the Year Award
  • My Judy Garland Life was shortlisted for the PEN Ackerley Prize

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Hickman, Christie (9 July 2004). "Susie Boyt: Reasons to be cheerful". The Independent. Archived from the original on 7 July 2022. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  2. ^ "Meet the Freuds by Sebastian Shakespeare and Olivia Cole". Evening Standard. 17 April 2009. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  3. ^ "Writer: Susie Boyt - Writers • Auckland Writers Festival". www.writersfestival.co.nz. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  4. ^ Hickling, Alfred (7 February 2014). "Amanda Whittington: 'I doubt I'll ever be considered fashionable'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  5. ^ "The Turn of the Screw and Other Ghost Stories by Henry James". www.penguin.co.nz. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  6. ^ "Susie Boyt | The Guardian". www.theguardian.com. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  7. ^ a b "Boyt, Susie - Royal Society of Literature". 1 September 2023. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  8. ^ Shaffi, Sarah; Knight, Lucy (12 July 2022). "Adjoa Andoh, Russell T Davies and Michaela Coel elected to Royal Society of Literature". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
  9. ^ "Susie Boyt: Scourge of the yummy mummy". The Independent. 4 November 2012. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  10. ^ "Love & Fame by Susie Boyt – going through the emotions". The Guardian. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 10 September 2020.