Profiles

Author Matt Haig grew up in the Newark, Nottinghamshire. His latest book follows an eleven-year-old boy (Phillip) who sees his father's ghost.

It turns out that only people who are murdered become ghosts and Phillip is the only person who can help his dad to get revenge and rest in peace.

"It's the most personal thing I've ever written.  It's set in Newark-on-Trent. It's drawn from my own childhood memories. It's essentially a dark comedy.

Being funny

So, Matt's second book is the world as seen through the eyes of an 11 year old. Matt's first book, The Last Family in England, was through the eyes of a dog.

Matt Haig

"I don't set out to try and be funny but I think if you've got the right premise the humour just comes out naturally.

Set in Notts

The book is largely set in and around Kelham and Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire. Matt says you have to be cautious when writing about places and people.

"If you're basing your novel in a real town you're obviously going to draw on your memories of that town.

"You've got to be true to the book without causing offence.

Film rights

His two published novels, which are both set in Robin Hood County, could be shortly turned into films.

Dead Fathers Club

The film rights to The Last Family In England have been optioned by Brad Pitt's film company Plan B/Paramount and the film rights to Dead Fathers Club have also been sold, this time to Harry Potter producer David Heyman.

"I wish I knew how it happened as I'd do it every time. When an author writes a book you write it then send it off to the publisher. After that it's generally in your publisher's and your agent's hands. I just get very nice phone calls out of the blue.

"I got phoned up in April and asked if I wanted to meet this guy David Haymen who's one of the producers of the Harry Potter films.

"David Haymen is determined that it is a British film and true to the book. I think they would film on location. They'd certainly pretend it was in Newark even if certain areas weren't.

"The Brad Pitt thing - all that I can tell you is that his company likes it."

To find out more about the film deals, the reason behind the lack of punctuation in Dead Fathers Club and which teacher Matt fancied when he was an 11 year old growing up in Newark...

More information

Matt Haig's Dead Fathers Club is out now. He's also finished a children's novel - Shadow Forest - due for publication in 2007 and has another novel and children's book in the pipeline.