Susie Boyt
Susie Boyt’s latest book and fifth novel, My Judy Garland Life (Virago, 2008) “blends autobiography with biography to create something magical, poetic and truly original”, writes psychoanalyst Darian Leader. No stranger to acclaim, Susie’s previous work has also been shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize (The Last Hope of Girls) and the Mind Award (Only Human).
My Judy Garland Life explores Susie Boyt’s passion for Judy Garland; this is hero-worship at its deepest without being just a memoir or biography. Susie creates comparable stratum between poignant moments of her own life and that of the iconic figure in order to explain our obsessions with people that we do not know. The Times’ Ali Smith calls the novel a “truly altruistic piece of modern thought” which “flings its arms out in a rainy street like a wonderful diva.”
Susie also writes a weekly fashion column for The Financial Times and is a much-loved authority on the ethics of aesthetics and glamour. A contributor to publications ranging from The London Review to Vogue, Susie is a multi-talented and popular writer who also supplies articles to all major broadsheet newspapers.
Born in London, she still lives and works in Regents Park with her producer husband, Tom Astor, and their two daughters. Her other novels include The Normal Man (1995), The Character of Love (1996), The Last Hope of Girls (2001) and Only Human (2004).
At this year’s festival, Susie will be talking about and reading from My Judy Garland Life, with a show and tell of Judy Garland mementoes.
“Both funny and painful. Delighting in quiet detail…Boyt lends grace and elegance to this tale of an ordinary woman trying to be good in a difficult world.”
The Daily Mail
Links:
- Review of My Judy Garland Life in the Observer
- Interview: Darian Leader and Susie Boyt – ‘How we Met’ in the Independent
- Susie Boyt article in the Financial Times
Video:
Judy Garland: ‘Get Happy’ (Summer Stock, 1950):
