Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine (Honeyman) - Author Bio

Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1971
• Where—central Scotland, Uk
• Education—University of Glasgow; Oxford University
• Currently—lives in Glasgow


Gail Honeyman was raised in central Scotland and as a child could be found in the library, she says, "a ridiculous number of times a week." Now in her 40s and author of a big-buzz book, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, Honeyman still finds herself in the library quite but is much happier to be there.

Honeyman studied French at Glasgow University and did postgraduate studies at Oxford. Deciding against pursuing her Ph.D., she ended up in working in university administration for a number of years. After a good number of years, the writing bug bit, and she enrolled in writing classes at Britain's well-known Faber Academy.

When not at her day job, Honeyman wrote—mornings, nights and weekends—all of which paid off handsomely. She entered and won competitions, and in 2015, her book was in the object of an eight-way tug of war among publishers. It was the talk of the town at that year's Frankfurt Book Fair and earned Honeyman a seven figure advance.

For anyone curious about how it feels to publish a first novel at 45, here's what Honeyman says:

It’s one of those jobs where the more life experience you have, the better—so it’s absolutely not a handicap to be older.… A bit of perspective and life experience isn’t a bad thing. Anyway, if you start a new career at 40, you’ve still got another 35 years to go.

(Author bio adapted from an article in The Guardian.)