Occupation novelist Notable works Boy Kills Man Nationality English Name Matt Whyman | Period 1993–present Role Novelist Genre Young adult fiction | |
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Books Boy Kills Man, Inside The Cage, XY: A Toolkit for Life, Icecore, Walking with Sausage | ||
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Matt Whyman is a British novelist, also known for his work as an advice columnist for numerous teenage magazines.
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Biography
Matt Whyman is a young-adult novelist and a long-standing advice columnist for many teenage magazines. Born in 1969, he grew up in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, and has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia (1992). Since then, he has taught creative writing projects across the UK, and for the British Council in Russia and the Middle East.
In 1995, Matt became the first male advice columnist for 19 magazine. He went on to hold a 10-year residency as AOL UK's online agony uncle, and has created many national health awareness campaigns for BBC Radio 1 and Brook Advisory, among others. He also writes widely on teenage issues for magazines, websites and newspapers, and often appears on radio and television in this role. He co-presented a series of ITV's controversial Saturday morning sex and relationships show, Love Bites, and is currently the agony uncle for Bliss, one of the UK's best-selling magazines for girls.
Currently he is a relationship advisor for askTheSite, official spokesperson for TheSite.org - a UK advice and information resource for 16- to 24-year-olds - and a monthly contributor to Marie Claire.
Whyman's first novels were for adults: Man or Mouse (2000), and Columbia Road (2002). Both titles are romantic comedies that address the impact of technology on relationships. He has since written much darker works of fiction, often set outside the UK, as well as non-fiction titles for teenagers. He has also contributed short stories to a number of anthologies, and was a judge for the 2005 Booktrust Teenage Prize.
His teenage novels are: Superhuman (2003); Boy Kills Man (2004), a critically acclaimed story of Colombian child assassins, which is published in translation around the world and currently being adapted for film; The Wild (2005), a novella set in Kazakhstan and Russia; and So Below (2005), for younger readers - an urban fantasy novel set under the streets of London. Inside the Cage (2007), is an Arctic-based thriller about teenage hackers and CIA ghost flights. His latest novels are Street Runner (2008); Goldstrike (2009); and Icecore (2009). In 2015, he wrote the graphic novel Username: Evie, with the story provided by Joe Sugg, who was credited as the lead author of the work, and with the art provided by Amrit Birdi.
He has also written several non-fiction advice books, including a set of 'Wise Guides' on subjects such as smoking, drinking and family break up. XY: A Toolkit for Life (2002) and XY100: one hundred strategies for life (2004).
Matt Whyman lives in West Sussex. He is married with four children.