Josh Silver (author)

Josh Silver (born 15 September 1989) is a British author. He is a former actor and mental health nurse. His debut novel, HappyHead, the first in a dystopian duology of young adult fiction books (published by Oneworld Publications in the UK), was shortlisted for the 2024 YA Book Prize, nominated for the 2024 Carnegie Medal for writing and named an Amazon Best YA book of 2023. The sequel, Dead Happy, was published in the UK on 2 May 2024. The series will be published by Delacorte at Penguin Random House in the USA in autumn 2024. The screen rights were acquired by actor Taron Egerton and Range Media Partners in a highly competitive auction pre-publication.

Biography
Silver grew up on a farm in the Lake District and moved to Manchester when he was a teenager. He attended RADA at the age of 17. After appearing on Broadway (the Royal Shakespeare Company's adaptation of the Hilary Mantel books Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies), and in the West End (notably alongside Nicole Kidman in Photograph 51), he later retrained as a mental health nurse and began writing at the same time. He now lives in Manchester with his husband and dog, Dodger.

Personal life
Silver is gay, and married to actor David Dawson. He speaks openly about his own mental health, and the mental health system he has worked in. Silver has ADHD. He is an identical twin.