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Who is Alice Oseman? Author of hit LGBTQ 'Heartstopper' series tipped as next JK Rowling earned $72 million in 2022

Oseman Heartstopper's series alone has sold more than four million copies worldwide

Leaving behind David Walliams, JK Rowling, Lee Child, and Sally Rooney, a 27-year-old British author, Alice Oseman has made it to the top charts and is all set to earn around $72 million this year, as per reports.

According to DailyMail, Oseman Heartstopper's series, which started as a crowd-funded, self-published graphic novel for teens, about a 15-year-old boy called Charlie who falls in love with Nick, a rugby-playing boy, alone has sold more than four million copies worldwide and is a Top 10 bestseller in 10 markets including the US, with publishing rights secured in 33 countries to date. In the UK, Oseman titles made around $6 million from January to June of this year, which made her ahead of David Walliams, who earned around $5 million, followed by JK Rowling with around $4 million.

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Who is Alice Oseman?

Born in 1994 in Kent, England, Oseman completed a degree in English at Durham University in 2016 and is currently a full-time writer and illustrator. According to her official website, she has written four YA contemporary novels about teenage disasters, ‘Solitaire,’ ‘Radio Silence,’ ‘I Was Born for This,’ and ‘Loveless.’ She is the creator of LGBTQ+ YA romance webcomic ‘Heartstopper,’ which is now published in physical form by Hachette Children’s Group. The 27-year-old is also the writer, creator, and executive producer for the television adaptation of ‘Heartstopper,’ which got released on Netflix this April and has made it to the Top 10 in more than 50 countries. Two more series have been commissioned, with the second going into production later this year, as per reports.

Following a casting call for the series that saw over 10,000 people audition, Kit Connor, known for 'Rocketman,' 'His Dark Materials,' was chosen to play Nick Nelson. And newcomer Joe Locke got the role of Charlie Spring. Oseman announced the leads of the series via a tweet as she wrote, "I'm so excited to share this pic of them on set!! Kit and Joe are so talented, sweet and funny."

For the uninitiated, Oseman’s first novel Solitaire was published when she was 19. Her YA novels have been nominated for the ‘YA Book Prize,’ the ‘Inky Awards,’ the ‘Carnegie Medal,’ and the ‘Goodreads Choice Awards.’