Nick Hornby Hornby, the chairman of London and Continental Railways, and Margaret Audrey, Lady Hornby ("née" Withers). He was brought up in Maidenhead, and educated at Maidenhead Grammar School and Jesus College, Cambridge, where he read English. His parents divorced when he was eleven. 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
Nick Hornby importance of music in Hornby's novels, and in his life, is evidenced by his long-standing and fruitful collaborations with the rock band Marah, fronted by Dave and Serge Bielanko. Hornby has even toured in the United States and Europe with the band, joining them on stage to read his essays about particular moments and performers in his own musical history that have had a particular meaning for him. Hornby's music criticism (most notably for "The New Yorker" and in his own "Songbook") has been widely criticised by writers such as Kevin Dettmar (in his book "Is Rock Dead"), Curtis White