Biography
A YA author of contemporary romance, Alice Oseman is best known for her Heartstopper series, an LGBTQ+ romance starring Nick and Charlie, which was adapted into a hit Netflix show.
An introverted high-achiever at school, Alice Oseman wrote her first novel, Solitaire, while still in sixth form. It was published in her first year of university, while she was studying English Literature, and her second novel, Radio Silence, quickly followed. By the time she graduated in 2016, she had written two novels, two novellas and had started work on a new project: Heartstopper.
Originally created as a free-to-read webcomic, Heartstopper was slow to attract attention, but slowly built up a dedicated audience. Despite the success of her previous novels, publishers were unwilling to take a chance on a YA graphic novel, and Alice decided to self-publish, setting up a crowd-funder whose goal was smashed in two hours.
The first volume of Heartstopper was self-published in 2018. Following its success, rights were sold to a publisher, and the series hit the mainstream. It went on to win the Goodreads Best Graphic Novel And Comic in 2020 and the British Book Awards Children’s Illustrated Book Of The Year in 2022, with Alice Oseman winning the Medal For Fiction at the Hay Festival in 2023. In 2022, the Netflix series premiered to critical acclaim, bringing a whole new audience into the Oseman universe.
Gentle, heartfelt but realistic, Alice Oseman’s YA novels and graphic novels tackle hard-hitting issues such as mental illness, academic pressures, sexual identity, eating disorders and bullying in a relatable way that accurately reflects the modern world and issues young adults face. Balancing the complexities of adolescence with the wit, humour and joy that comes from growing up and first, nerve-wracking experiences, Alice Oseman’s novels deftly explore what it means to be a 21st century teenager.
