Dr Charles Fernyhough

Charles Fernyhough is a writer and psychologist. His first novel, The Auctioneer, was published by Fourth Estate in 1999 and appeared in German translation in 2001. Other pieces of fiction have appeared in New Writing 11 (British Council/Picador), New Writing 14 (British Council/Granta) and Bound (New Writing North). His new novel, A Box of Birds, is a literary thriller about how neuroscience changes our understanding of ourselves. 

His non-fiction book, The Baby in the Mirror (Granta, 2008) was critically acclaimed in the UK and has been translated into seven languages. It was published in the US as A Thousand Days of Wonder (Avery, 2009). His book on autobiographical memory, Pieces of Light:The new science of memory, will be published by Profile Books in 2012.

Awards include a Time to Write Award (2001) from the Northern Writers’ Awards, and an Arts Council of England Grant for the Arts (2005). Charles has taught creative writing, with a particular focus on psychological processes in reading and writing, in a variety of contexts around the UK, including a short course on Creative Writing and Psychology at Newcastle University. He has also worked in schools with young people of all ages. He is a faculty member of the School of Life in London, and has appeared at festivals in Barcelona, Sydney, Durham, Newcastle and Sheffield.

Charles is a regular fiction reviewer for the Sunday Telegraph, and has also written for the Guardian, Financial Times, Scotland on Sunday and Sydney Morning Herald. He has made numerous radio appearances in the UK and US. He is a part-time reader in psychology at Durham University, where he conducts research in child development, hallucinations and memory.