Lee Child: World famous author crime his Leeds and Yorkshire roots

Best selling author Lee Child might live in New York but Yorkshire (and parts of Leeds) will forever have a fond place in his heart. For one thing, his grandmother lived in Otley.

These days, he is perhaps best known as the author of the Jack Reacher novels, which have been adapted to the silver screen, with Tom Cruise in the lead role. It’s fair to say Child is one of the most famous writers on the planet, so much so that he’s been dubbed a ‘billion dollar brand’.

It really is difficult to overstate just how successful he’s been. Since the publication of Killing Floor, the first in the Reacher series, he’s regularly topped bestseller lists and sold 100m books worldwide.

Child returns to Yorkshire this month when he will be attending the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate (July 20-23). As well as talking about his career in a sell-out event with Sarah Millican he’ll also be receiving the Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award, joining an impressive list of past winners that includes Ruth Rendell, PD James and Colin Dexter.

He’s appeared at the festival before and has fond memories of the spa town. “I remember Harrogate from being a kid. Yorkshire used to have this weird hierarchy so Otley was better than Guiseley, but not as good as Ilkley, and at the top of the tree was always Harrogate – it felt like you needed a passport to get in there.”