John Niven

Born in Irvine, Ayrshire, Niven read English literature at the University of Glasgow, graduating in 1991 with First Class honours. For the next ten years, he worked for a variety of record companies, including London Records and Independiente. He left the music industry to write full-time in 2002 and published Music from Big Pink, a book about The Band’s album of the same name, in 2005 (Continuum Press). The book was optioned for the screen by CC Films with a script written by English playwright Jez Butterworth.

Niven's breakthrough novel Kill Your Friends is a satire of the music business, based on his brief career in A&R, during which he passed up the chance to sign Coldplay and Muse. The novel was published by William Heinemann in 2008 to much acclaim, with The Word magazine describing it as "possibly the best British Novel since Trainspotting". It has been translated into seven languages and was a bestseller in Britain and Germany. Niven has since published The Amateurs (2009), The Second Coming (2011), Cold Hands (2012), Straight White Male (2013), The Sunshine Cruise Company (2015),{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-sunshine-cruise-company-by-john-niven-book-review-middle-aged-chick-lit-that-breaks-all-the-10453670.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220613/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-sunshine-cruise-company-by-john-niven-book-review-middle-aged-chick-lit-that-breaks-all-the-10453670.html |archive-date=13 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Book review: The Sunshine Cruise Company by John Niven|date=2015-08-13|website=The Independent|language=en|access-date=2019-01-25}} No Good Deed (2017) and Kill 'em All (2018).{{Cite web|url=https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/1114859/kill-_em-all/9781785151576.html|title=Kill 'Em All|last=Niven|first=John|website=www.penguin.co.uk|language=en|access-date=2019-01-25}}

He also writes original screenplays with writing partner Nick Ball, the younger brother of British TV presenter Zoë Ball. His journalistic contributions to newspapers and magazines include a monthly column for Q magazine, entitled "London Kills Me". In 2009 Niven wrote a controversial article for The Independent newspaper where he attacked the media's largely complacent coverage of Michael Jackson's death.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/michael-jackson-bad-and-very-dangerous-1731258.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220613/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/michael-jackson-bad-and-very-dangerous-1731258.html |archive-date=13 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Michael Jackson: Bad! And very dangerous|date=23 October 2011|work=The Independent}}

In 2005 he co-wrote the lyrics of two songs on James Dean Bradfield's album The Great Western.{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/how-we-met-john-niven--james-dean-bradfield-782211.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220613/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/how-we-met-john-niven--james-dean-bradfield-782211.html |archive-date=13 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=How We Met: John Niven & James Dean Bradfield – Profiles – People – The Independent |last=Morris |first=Sophie |date=17 February 2008 |website=The Independent |accessdate=8 February 2013}}

Niven co-wrote the screenplay How to Build a Girl, opposite Caitlin Moran, based upon her novel of the same name, directed by Coky Giedroyc.{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2018/07/beanie-feldstein-how-to-build-a-girl-paddy-considine-lionsgate-alfie-allen-sarah-solemani-caitlin-moran-1202426923/|title=Beanie Feldstein Comedy 'How To Build A Girl' Adds Cast, Lionsgate With Shoot Under Way|website=Deadline Hollywood|first=Andreas|last=Wiseman|date=July 16, 2018|accessdate=July 16, 2018}}

Niven contributes regularly to Noble Rot Magazine, an independent publication about wine and food, and the Daily Record.{{Cite web |title=Daily Record & Sunday Mail - Scottish News, Sport, Politics and Celeb gossip |url=https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/authors/john-niven/ |access-date=2022-09-12 |website=dailyrecord |language=en}}

An atheist and a republican, Niven refuses to sing "God Save the Queen" on ideological grounds.{{fact|date=January 2023}}

• Music from Big Pink: A Novella (33 1/3) (2005)
• Kill Your Friends (2008)
• The Amateurs (2009)
• The Second Coming (2011)
• Cold Hands (2012)
• Straight White Male (2013)
• The Sunshine Cruise Company (2015)
• No Good Deed (2017, {{ISBN|978-0434023295}})
• Kill 'Em All — sequel to Kill Your Friends (2018, {{ISBN|978-1785151576}})
• The F*ck-it List (2020, {{ISBN|978-0434023264}}){{Cite book |last=Niven |first=John |title=The F*ck-it List: Is this the most shocking thriller of the year? |date=2020-03-26 |publisher=William Heinemann |isbn=978-0-434-02326-4 |edition= |language=English}}
• O Brother (2023)

• The Trip (2021) - Writer
• How to Build a Girl - Screenwriter
• Superviszed (2018) - Screenwriter
• Kill Your Friends (2015) - Screenwriter
• Cat Run (2011) - Screenwriter

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/1057180/john-niven.html Author page on Penguin]
• https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/kill-your-friends-by-john-niven-780982.html
• https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jan/31/kill-your-friends-review
• [http://www.shotsmag.co.uk/interview_view.aspx?interview_id=241 Interview in Shotsmag Ezine July 2012]

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Category:1968 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century Scottish novelists

Category:Scottish screenwriters

Category:Scottish male novelists

Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow

Category:21st-century British male writers

Category:Scottish atheists

Category:21st-century British screenwriters

Category:People from Irvine, North Ayrshire

Category:Scottish republicans