Michael Frayn

Michael Frayn is a bestselling and award-winning novelist, journalist, screen writer and playwright. After reading Philosophy at Cambridge, he worked as a reporter and columnist for the Guardian and the Observer newspapers. His eleven novels include Headlong, the story of the discovery of a lost painting by Bruegel, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction; Spies, which won the 2002 Whitbread Novel Award; and Skios published in 2012.

His numerous full-length plays include Donkeys’ Years, Clouds, Balmoral, Benefactors, Democracy, Afterlife, and of course arguably the funniest farce ever written, Noises Off. His collection of playlets, Matchbox Theatre was published in 2014, and performed at the Hampstead Theatre in 2015. He is also renowned for his masterly translations of Chekhov, having learned Russian while doing his National Service. He also wrote the screenplay for the film Clockwise, starring John Cleese.