A.J. Hartley

A.J. Hartley (AKA Andrew Hart) is the New York Times bestselling author of 24 novels in a variety of genres including mystery, fantasy, sci-fi, thriller, paranormal, children’s and young adult. He has written adaptations of Macbeth and Hamlet with David Hewson (the latter winning Audible’s book of the year for 2014), and UFO mystery/thrillers with Tom DeLonge of Blink 182. The first book of his Steeplejack trilogy won International Thriller Writers’ YA book of the year for 2017. His most recent book is a playful, time-traveling fantasy adventure called Burning Shakespeare about someone who sells his soul to the devil so he can go back in time and wipe the Bard from history.

As Andrew James Hartley he is UNC Charlotte’s Robinson Professor of Shakespeare studies where he specializes in performance issues. He is the author of scholarly books on dramaturgy, political theatre and performance history, and has edited collections about Shakespeare on the university stage, Shakespeare in millennial fiction, and (with Peter Holland) Shakespeare and geek culture. He was editor of Shakespeare Bulletin for a decade, and is currently editing Julius Caesar for Arden.

AJ was born and raised in northwest England before living in Japan after his undergraduate degree and eventually moving to the United States for his MA and Ph.D from Boston University. He has a YouTube channel focused mainly on Japanese rock music. You can learn more about him at www.ajhartley.net