Alice Oseman

This piece was written by our work experience students Arthur and Annalisa.

Alice Oseman is a British LGBTQ+ author, illustrator, and screenwriter who uses she/her and they/them pronouns and has written many books focusing on teenage life in the UK.

She was born in Chatham, Kent on 16th October 1994. She lived in a village close to Rochester with her younger brother William and went to Rochester grammar school and then, went to Durham university where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English literature. she secured her first publishing deal when she was only 17. Oseman enjoys playing the piano semi-proficiently, playing Pokemon games and purchasing too many Converse.

Solitaire:

She published her debut novel Solitaire in 2014 which tells the story of a pessimistic teenage girl who is interested in solving mysteries who meets a polar oppositite and wants to find out who is behind a series of pranks at her school. oseman was only 19 when Solitare was published which is quite impressive. Reviews praise this book ofr being authentic and honest making it appealing to relating teen readers.

 Heartstopper:

Oseman was working on the idea of the characters for Heartstopper for a few years which started with a small audience which grew once it was published in October 2018, her most popular series of comics, Heartstopper. The comic is about a coming-of-age story about two teenage boys, Nick and Charlie, as they form a relationship after meeting in a British grammar school, which was adapted to an award-winning Netflix show where Oseman was involved in every stage of production. the show also recieved a BAFTA TV nomination. The series has an enormous fanbase, with over 52.1 million views and one million print copies sold to date.

Loveless:

In July 2020, she published Loveless a young adult fiction novel about her experiences in university. This warm and witty story features a girl who lacks romance in her life, which turns upside-down when her romance plan wreaks havoc among her friends. while promoting the book Oseman opened up about being asexual. Independent News (now iNews) reviewed the book as being “A joyous, disarmingly honest book that seems to leap right inside the mind of a teenage girl.”

Her novels have been praised for having a relatable and realistic portrayal of teenage life which is impressive considering her young age at the time and for representing characters of various genders, sexualities, and ethnicities. Her noves are appealing to teen readers because of their honest, joyous themes. Oseman has won several awards including the YA Book Prize, The Inky Awards, The Goodreads Choice Award and The British Book Awards Illustrator of the year.

 

Next
Next

Enid Mary Blyton