Maggie O'Farrell has revealed how her multiple near-death experiences directly influenced the creation of her acclaimed novel Hamnet and her eventual involvement in its Oscar-winning film adaptation. The 53-year-old author has recently garnered significant attention following the cinematic adaptation of her 2020 novel, which chronicles the death of Shakespeare's 11-year-old son. The film propelled lead actress Jessie Buckley to an Oscar win and earned O'Farrell a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.
From Memoir to Novel
In a candid interview with The Times, O'Farrell explained how the novel emerged after her bestselling 2017 memoir I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death. The memoir details her numerous encounters with mortality, beginning at age eight when she was diagnosed with encephalitis—a life-threatening brain inflammation that left her wheelchair-bound for a year. 'I did need to write I Am… before Hamnet,' she stated. 'Almost dying reconfigures you and the way you think about the world.'
O'Farrell emphasized that this perspective does not induce anxiety. 'I don't go around with a black crow on my shoulder. I think it's had the opposite effect. It doesn't make me feel anxious,' she said. Instead, she embraces life's fragility: 'Life is fragile and it's brief and my thinking is, Let's just pack in as much as I can. Say yes to as many things as I can.'
Initial Hesitations
O'Farrell admitted to initial reluctance about writing the screenplay for Hamnet. However, approaching her 50th birthday prompted a change of heart. 'It's good to try new things, to step outside what you're used to,' she explained. Her memoir also recounts a harrowing incident where she nearly lost her daughter, who was born with potentially fatal allergies, to an unexpected reaction during a holiday.
Hamnet won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2020 and the fiction prize at the National Book Critics Circle Awards. The film adaptation, directed by Chloé Zhao and starring Buckley alongside Paul Mescal, grossed £75 million globally. O'Farrell described the success as 'winning the lottery, in different ways,' but remains grounded: 'It will probably never happen again, so I just have to enjoy it and then move on and make something new. I think if I come at it from the angle of, There's going to be a lot of pressure on me as a result, I'm slightly missing the joy of it.'
Looking Ahead
O'Farrell plans to 'carry on' and 'get back to work.' Her next book, Land, is set for release in June. The multigenerational family epic, set in the west of Ireland in 1865, follows a son and his father working on the Great Ordnance Survey project to map all of Ireland. Land will be O'Farrell's tenth novel, joining her nine previous novels, children's books, and memoir.
