A ONE-SITTING GULP: Short, funny, addictive, and satisfying. HOLIDAY GIFT: Perfect for fans of Dickens OR Prince.AUTHOR’S PASSION: Hornby has made a career of putting his fandom on the page. His bestselling Fever Pitch came from his love of football (soccer). High Fidelity from his love of music. We didn’t know about his passion for Dickens until now, but it is a welcome addition.INFORMATIVE AND ENTERTAINING: This short book delivers mini biographies on both Prince and Dickens but also goes much deeper, beyond the facts of their lives and into the sources of their creativity. It’s chock full of information, but also food for thought. Hornby’s appreciations for both are highly contagious.RELIABLE FANBASE:  Hornby’s fiction regularly hits the bestseller lists, and he’s already well known and beloved for his nonfiction essays (previously found in The Believer magazine); as well as his book-length nonfiction essays, published by McSweeneys.

Nick Hornby is the author of seven bestselling novels, including High Fidelity, About a Boy, and A Long Way Down, as well as several works of nonfiction. Many of his books have been turned into successful films and TV series. He has been Oscar nominated twice, for his screenplays of An Education and Brooklyn. His ten-part short-form TV series State of the Union, directed by Stephen Frears, was recently broadcast by Sundance TV and the BBC and won three Emmy Awards. He lives in London.

Author Residence: London, UK

Praise for Dickens and Prince:

“Smart, witty and weirdly convincing… Pop culture is political to Hornby. Beneath this latest book’s stocking-filler-light surface, you can sense a subtle sort of crusade. By pairing these two artists, he’s making a couple of implicit assertions — that Prince is as important as Dickens and that Dickens is as fun as Prince.” —The Times (London)
 
“His book is both a love letter to two artists who have nourished him and the story of how they ’caught fire and lit up the world.’" —The Guardian

“If you’ve forgotten what a distinct pleasure it is to read Nick Hornby, may I suggest Dickens and Prince.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“I love this. It’s smart and funny and elegantly persuasive.” —Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, author of Becoming Dickens

“Hornby’s admiration for his subjects is infectious… a zesty tribute to two cultural legends not often spoken about in the same breath.” —Publishers Weekly

“An ardent fan letter from Hornby that makes you want to re-read Great Expectations while listening to Sign o’ the Times. This slim, companionable volume combines biography—Dickens’s impoverished childhood, Prince’s bruising battle with his record label—as it champions the creative impulse to always make more: more novels, more songs. A love letter to maximalism.” —Vogue


Praise for Nick Hornby:

“Hornby is a writer who dares to be witty, intelligent, and emotionally generous all at once.” —The New York Times

“The clever British storyteller …[has] excellent taste and a smart, irreverent sense of humor.” —The Boston Globe

“Hornby just makes it look easy.” —The Washington Post