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 long listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2001 and won the W.H. Smith Award for Fiction in 2002. Part of the money he earned with his next book, "Speaking with the Angel" in 2002, was donated to TreeHouse, a charity for children with autism, the disorder that affects Hornby's own son. He was editor of the book, which contained twelve short stories written by his friends. He also contributed to the collection with the story "NippleJesus". In 2003, Hornby wrote a collection of essays on selected popular songs and the emotional resonance they carry, called "31 Songs" (known in