Matt Haig

Born in Sheffield, Matt Haig is a British author whose work spans adult fiction, nonfiction and children’s literature. His novels include The Humans, How to Stop Time, The Midnight Library and The Life Impossible. He has also written the memoir Reasons to Stay Alive and the reflective nonfiction titles Notes on a Nervous Planet and The Comfort Book.

Haig often introduces a speculative twist, then uses it to examine recognisable human fears and desires. An alien studies humanity in The Humans; an extraordinarily long-lived man moves through history in How to Stop Time. Across his fiction and nonfiction, he returns to mental health, regret, isolation, time and the question of what makes life valuable. His prose is direct and accessible, with philosophical ideas carried by clear premises and emotional stakes.

The Midnight Library won the 2020 Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction. The Radleys was selected for a 2011 Alex Award, while Haig’s children’s novel A Boy Called Christmas became a feature film released in 2021.

For a first book, choose The Midnight Library. Nora Seed enters a library between life and death, where each volume lets her experience a life shaped by different choices. Its blend of parallel lives, intimate crisis and hopeful speculation offers the clearest introduction to Haig’s central concerns. Readers drawn to its treatment of mental health can continue with Reasons to Stay Alive; those wanting another imaginative novel might try The Humans.