Hornby published his first book in 1992, a collection of essays about American writers such as
Tobias Wolff and
Ann Beattie, titled
Contemporary American Fiction. Hornby's second book,
Fever Pitch, also published in 1992, is an autobiographical story detailing his fanatical support for
Arsenal Football Club. As a result, Hornby received the
William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award. In 1997, the memoir was adapted for
film in the UK, and in 2005 an
American remake was released, following
Jimmy Fallon's character's obsession with the
Boston Red Sox, a baseball team. With the book's success, Hornby began to publish articles in the
Sunday Times,
Time Out and the
Times Literary Supplement, in addition to his music reviews for the
New Yorker.
High Fidelity — his third book and first novel — was published in 1995. The novel, about a neurotic record collector and his failed relationships, was adapted into a
2000 American film starring
John Cusack, a
Broadway musical in 2006, and a television show
High Fidelity starring
Zoë Kravitz in 2020. His second novel,
About a Boy, published in 1998, is about two "boys" — Marcus, an awkward yet endearing adolescent from a single-parent family, and the free-floating, mid-30s Will Freeman, who overcomes his own immaturity and self-centredness through his growing relationship with Marcus.
Hugh Grant and
Nicholas Hoult starred in the
2002 film version. In 1999, Hornby received the
E. M. Forster Award of the
American Academy of Arts and Letters. Hornby's next novel,
How to Be Good, was published in 2001. The female protagonist in the novel explores contemporary morals, marriage and parenthood. It was longlisted for the
Man Booker Prize in 2001 and won the
W.H. Smith Award for Fiction in 2002. Part of the money he earned with his next book,
Speaking with the Angel in 2002, was donated to
TreeHouse, a charity for autistic children: Hornby's own son is autistic. He was editor of the book, which contained twelve short stories written by his friends. He also contributed to the collection with the story "NippleJesus". In 2003, Hornby wrote a collection of essays on selected popular songs and the emotional resonance they carry, called
31 Songs (known in the US as
Songbook). Also in 2003, Hornby was awarded the London Award 2003, an award that was selected by fellow writers. Hornby has also written essays on various aspects of popular culture and, in particular, he has become known for his writing on pop music and
mix tape enthusiasts. Since 2003, he has written a book review column, "Stuff I've Been Reading", for the monthly magazine
The Believer; all of these articles are collected between
The Polysyllabic Spree (2004),
Housekeeping vs. The Dirt (2006),
Shakespeare Wrote for Money (2008), and
More Baths Less Talking (2012). Hornby's novel
A Long Way Down was published in 2005, with
a film version of this book released in 2014. It was on the shortlist for the
Whitbread Novel Award. Hornby has also edited two sports-related anthologies:
My Favourite Year and
The Picador Book of Sports Writing. Hornby's book
Slam was published on 16 October 2007; it is his first novel for young adults and was recognised as a 2008
ALA Best Books for Young Adults. The protagonist of
Slam is a 16-year-old skateboarder named Sam, whose life changes drastically when his girlfriend gets pregnant. Hornby's following novel, titled
Juliet, Naked, was published in September 2009. Addressing similar themes as his earlier novel
High Fidelity, the book is about a reclusive 1980s rock star who is forced out of isolation, after the release of demo recordings of the songs on his most famous album brings him into contact with some of his most passionate fans. In 2010, Hornby co-founded the
Ministry of Stories, a non-profit organisation in East London dedicated to helping children and young adults develop writing skills and to helping teachers inspire their students to write. Hornby discussed his bouts of depression in 2012 on the BBC Radio 4 broadcast of "Fever Pitched: Twenty Years On". Hornby's most recent novels are
Funny Girl (2014), about a 1960s beauty queen determined to make her mark upon television comedy,
State of the Union (2019) and
Just Like You (2020).
Screenwriting Hornby has also developed a career as a screenwriter, and has said that he enjoys the challenge of working in film as opposed to writing novels. In his
BAFTA and
BFI Screenwriters' Lecture he said: "once you get to a certain point in your novelistic career, unless you screw up very badly the book is going to come out. With a screenplay there are all these hurdles that seem to have some kind of objectivity to them. The screenplay has to work and I love that." In 2009, Hornby adapted an autobiographical memoir by the journalist
Lynn Barber for the screen as
An Education, a feature film starring
Peter Sarsgaard and
Carey Mulligan. He was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and for two
BAFTAs. In 2014, Hornby adapted another autobiographical memoir,
Cheryl Strayed's
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail.
Wild, which starred
Reese Witherspoon and
Laura Dern, was nominated for
Best Actress for Witherspoon and
Best Supporting Actress for Dern. Speaking on the challenge of adapting such a packed book, Hornby said it was really a case of boiling everything down and making the realisation that he could have made a two-hour film without mentioning walking at all. According to Metacritic, the film is on eighty "top 10" lists for 2015. He was nominated for his second
Oscar for writing the screenplay and received two BAFTA nominations, winning one. In 2016, Hornby adapted Nina Stibbe's book
Love, Nina: Despatches from Family Life into a television series.
Love, Nina received its debut on BBC One on 20 May 2016, and ran for five episodes. ==Adaptations==