Bonnie Garmus published her debut novel, Lessons in Chemistry, in 2022 to wide acclaim, and it became a bestseller worldwide. The book was named Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Oprah Daily, and many other media outlets. She won the British Book Awards Author of the Year 2023, Waterstones Author of the Year 2022, and the Paul Torday Memorial Prize for a first novel by an author over sixty. The book was also shortlisted for the 2023 Royal Society of Literature Christopher Bland Prize.
On why her book has resonated around the globe, Bonnie told The Guardian, “Readers identify with Elizabeth Zott. There are so few of us who haven’t been put down, pushed aside, maligned, passed over, rejected, ripped off, lied to, or treated badly simply because we’re women, people of color, gender-diverse, neuro-diverse, too fat, too thin, too short, too tall – you name it. But Elizabeth is a rationalist; she doesn’t confuse societal prejudice with facts, nor does she accept direction from those who do. It’s fun to write a character like that.”
Bonnie was born in California and received her bachelor’s degree in creative writing/aesthetic studies from UC Santa Cruz. She worked as a copywriter and creative director in the fields of technology, medicine, and education.
Bonnie says she’s wanted to be an author since she was five years old. She wrote several novels that didn’t go anywhere prior to Lessons in Chemistry, but one had Elizabeth Zott as a very minor character.
Bonnie enjoys open water swimming and has rowed competitively. She has lived in Seattle, Switzerland, Colombia, and currently lives in London with her husband and her dog named 99.
