Award-winning author Graham Joyce dies, aged 59

By Leicester Mercury

Graham Joyce


Graham Joyce and his novels


Graham Joyce, at home in Leicester


A publicity shot of Graham Joyce from the mid-2000s

Author Graham Joyce, hailed by Stephen King as "a truly great novelist", has died at the age of 59.

The award-winning Leicestershire writer had been battling aggressive lymphoma cancer. His death was confirmed by his publishers and a message posted on his Twitter account. 

"We are so sorry to have to tell everyone that Graham died this afternoon," it says. "He was always so good with words so we don't know what to say. Thank you for all the wonderful kind messages of support and love throughout his illness. He will be missed so much."

As the news of his death broke, fans and fellow authors took to Twitter to express their shock and sadness.

R"Very sad to hear that Graham Joyce, a truly great novelist, has passed away," wrote Stephen King. "Too soon. Far too soon."

"My thoughts go out to his family at this awful time," wrote Bali Rai. "A great writer and lovely man."

"Just heard the devastating news of the death of Graham Joyce," wrote Rod Duncan. "A towering literary figure, kind & generous with his time and insight.

"A wonderful writer, great storyteller, genuinely good human," wrote Lou Morgan. "We are all a little less without him."

"Devastated to have to confirm that Graham Joyce died today after a long illness," wrote his publishers, Gollancz. "Our hearts go out to his family and friends. Graham was a writer of huge heart. He loved people and his writing celebrated the magic of them. His books are a fitting legacy."

Last year, Graham wrote on his blog: "I’ve been undergoing chemotherapy. It’s very heavy medicine, in which you are carefully poisoned to within an inch of your life in an effort to defeat the multiplying cancer cells. I’ve spent the last few weeks feeling like a brick wall has collapsed on me; that and being frightened by the gaunt face of the stranger in the mirror.

"When I announced my illness on Facebook I hardly expected the flood of goodwill messages, letters, emails, exhortations to be strong, appreciation of my books, prayers (secular and religious), gifts and cards sent to my home – from friends and strangers alike. I felt quite overwhelmed, and if a bit tearful I blamed it on the steroids. It also made me reflect on the complicated relationship a writer has with a reader. Readers whom you think are strangers are actually on intimate terms with you and it was heartwarming to hear from so many people."

Graham, who won a string of British Fantasy Awards for his acclaimed, genre-defying novels, also played goal in the England Writers team and taught creative writing at Nottingham Trent University. He grew up near Coventry and moved to Leicester more than three decades ago to take an MA at university.

His most recent book was The Year of the Ladybird, a chiller set in the long hot summer of 1976, which The Guardian said confirms him as “one of the best writers of ghost stories we have”.

The online tributes have continued today. Amid all the heartfelt messages, one stands out. On Twitter, Ella Joyce wrote: "Oh Dad, I'm going to miss you so much."

Graham’s wife, Sue, said; “He was a wonderful husband and father and a lot of fun. He was very clever and we were a very happy family.

“We were together for 32 years and have a daughter, Ella who’s 18 and a son, Joe, who is 16 next week.

“He tried hard with the chemotherapy and was starting a new drug trial, but his system gave up before he could benefit from it.”

She added: “It is so hard to imagine life without him. He did a wonderful piece on BBC Radio 4’s Word of Mouth programme about the language of cancer last month.

“We listened to it in the general hospital - he was so ill at the time.He spoke about having given it his best shot, but he couldn’t fight it - it’s not a fight, it’s an illness.

“A lot of people really appreciated it and wrote to him about it. He did a beautiful end to the programme, he said he didn’t want people to say he lost his fight with cancer.

“He had lived a good life and because of that he had a good death.He wanted to people to think of him having a good death, rather than having lost a battle.”

Graham had a PhD in Creative Writing from Nottingham Trent University where he was a Writing Fellow and in 2008 was awarded an Honorary Master of Letters degree by Derby University.

Graham’s latest work, a book of short stories entitled 25 Years in the Mines, with the artwork portrait by his daughter Ella on the front, was published by P S Publishing at the weekend.

Sue added: “It is really lovely that they got to do a project together.”

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