William Boyd

William Boyd is a highly acclaimed author, born in Accra, Ghana, in 1952, to Scottish parents. He spent his early years in Ghana and Nigeria, where he was deeply impacted by the Biafran Wars. Boyd was educated in Scotland at Gordonstoun School and then went on to attend Nice University, Glasgow University, and Jesus College, Oxford, where he earned a PhD in English Literature.

Boyd began his writing career while still in academia, publishing his first stand-alone novel, "A Good Man in Africa," in 1981. He spent eight years in academia, during which time he also worked as a TV critic at the New Statesman magazine and taught contemporary novel writing at St. Hilda's College, Oxford. In 1983, Boyd was selected as one of the "Best of Young British Novelists" by Granta magazine and the Book Marketing Council.

Boyd has received numerous awards for his works, including the Whitbread Award, the Somerset Maugham Prize, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the McVitie Prize, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. His novel "An Ice Cream War" was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and his novel "Any Human Heart" won the Prix Jean Monnet. In 2005, Boyd was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Boyd's novels and stories have been translated into over thirty languages and have been widely published around the world. He is also the author of a collection of screenplays and a memoir of his schooldays, "School Ties" (1985). He has written for the theatre, with his first play, "Six Parties," premiering at the Cottesloe Theatre in 2009. Boyd is married and spends his time between London and South West France.