Saturday, August 29, 2009

Nick Hornby and autism

There is an interesting piece about Nick Hornby in The Times today, along with an excerpt from his forthcoming book, Juliet Naked. You can read it here.

I have a lot of time for Nick Hornby. Not just for his writing, which is good and accessible, but also for his quiet championing of services for children with autism. Nick and his ex-wife set up a very specialist school in London for children with autism. Whilst the specific teaching approach used at TreeHouse school is not the one we chose for son 2, I do know other parents who use it successfully and indeed have children at the school.

Nick Hornby doesn't often speak or write specifically about his autistic son, but when he does, as in this interview in 2000, it is always moving. I'm currently writing a novel about living with autism and I can only aspire to express the tangled emotions as successfully as Nick Hornby.

3 comments:

Anne Brooke said...

Sounds like a book I'd love. I was gripped by A Long Way Down. He's a great author. Interesting to read about his life a bit more too.

Axxx

Casdok said...

Tangled emotions is a good way of putting it! Cant wait to read your book! And look forward to Nick's who i admire.

Cathy said...

Thanks Anne and Casdok. Sounds like Nick's sold two copies of the new book then :)

Cx