Adam Kay Popular Books
Adam Kay Biography & Facts
Adam Richard Kay (born 12 June 1980) is a British TV writer, author, comedian and former doctor. He is best known as author of the number-one bestselling book This Is Going to Hurt (2017). His television writing credits include This is Going to Hurt (based on his memoir of the same name), Crims, Mrs. Brown's Boys and Mitchell and Webb. Early life and education Adam Kay was born in Brighton, England, to Stewart and Naomi Kay, and grew up in a Jewish household with three siblings. His father being a doctor, Kay describes becoming a doctor as being a default decision. The Kay family was from Poland, the original family name being Strykowski. Kay attended Dulwich College, leaving in 1997, and Imperial College London, where he read medicine and graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree in 2004. During his time at medical school, Kay began performing in medical school shows in 1998. While at medical school, he founded the musical comedy group Amateur Transplants and wrote for BBC Radio 4. Career Kay initially trained in obstetrics and gynaecology before turning to writing. Medicine Kay worked as a doctor between 2004 and 2010, leaving the profession after a patient's caesarean section was complicated by an undiagnosed placenta praevia; the expectant mother was subsequently taken to the intensive care unit, while the baby was delivered stillborn, which left him with symptoms of PTSD. Music Kay founded the Amateur Transplants. Their song "London Underground", which was set to the tune of "Going Underground" by the Jam, gained significant popularity on the internet in the UK in 2005. Writing Kay's first book, This Is Going to Hurt, based on diaries from his former career as a doctor, was published by Picador in September 2017 and became an instant Sunday Times bestseller. The paperback edition was also an instant Sunday Times number one bestseller, a position it held for well over a year and selling more than 2.5 million copies. It was chosen as Book of the Year in the UK's 2018 National Book Awards. The book was well received by critics, including in the literary pages of The Times, Financial Times, Guardian, and The Scotsman. In addition to being named Book of the Year, This Is Going to Hurt also won at the National Book Awards in the categories of Non-Fiction Book of the Year, New Writer of the Year and Book Club Book of the Year. It was also awarded Blackwell's Debut Book of the Year 2017, Sunday Times Humour Book of the Year, and won both Non-Fiction Book of the Year and the overall prize in the 2017 Books Are My Bag Readers' Awards. It was nominated for Non-Fiction Book of the Year in the 2018 British Book Awards, won Esquire Book of the Year and was a selection of the Zoe Ball Book Club. This Is Going to Hurt has been translated into 28 languages, achieving number-one status internationally. It was the UK's second-best selling book of 2018. On 6 July 2018, the BBC announced that Kay would be adapting This Is Going to Hurt as a seven-part comedy-drama for BBC One. It was made by Sister Pictures and Kay is one of the co-executive producers. Part one of the series, also titled This Is Going to Hurt, was broadcast on 8 February 2022. Kay was awarded a BAFTA for his writing of the show at the 2023 British Academy Television Craft Awards. Kay's second book, Twas the Nightshift before Christmas, was released in October 2019. Kay is now an established screenwriter, having written and co-created the 2015 BBC Three sitcom series Crims – along with Grandma's House writer Dan Swimer, with other television work as a writer and script editor including Mrs. Brown's Boys, Mongrels, Watson & Oliver, Up the Women, Very British Problems, Flat TV, Our Ex Wife, Who Is America?, Mitchell and Webb and Child Genius. In April 2020, it was announced that Trapeze would publish a collection of personal stories about the National Health Service (NHS) edited by Kay. Entitled Dear NHS: 100 Stories to Say Thank You, the book includes letters from stars including Paul McCartney, Louis Theroux, and Caitlin Moran. Since 2020, Kay has written and released several children's books. In 2022, he published Undoctored: The Story of a Medic Who Ran Out of Patients. Performing Kay has sold out shows for six years at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and has also had sell-out nationwide UK tours. His 2018 tour of This Is Going to Hurt sold out a season at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC), the largest venue of the Edinburgh Fringe, and a week at the Garrick Theatre, before culminating in two shows at the Hammersmith Apollo. He performs regularly at cultural events including the Latitude Festival, and the Cheltenham Literature Festival. Kay won Best Musical Variety Act at the 2014 London Cabaret Awards and has been named by the Evening Standard as one of London's most influential people. He has performed songs on the topical BBC Radio 4 series The Now Show and has appeared on numerous TV shows, such as The Russell Howard Hour on Sky One, BBC Breakfast, Lorraine, Peston on Sunday and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. Books 2017: This Is Going to Hurt 2019: Twas the Nightshift before Christmas 2020: Dear NHS: 100 Stories to Say Thank You 2020: Adam Kay and Henry Paker, Kay's Anatomy: A Complete (and Completely Disgusting) Guide to the Human Body 2021: Adam Kay and Henry Paker, Kay's Marvellous Medicine: A Gross and Gruesome History of the Human Body 2022: Undoctored: The Story of a Medic Who Ran Out of Patients 2023: Adam Kay and Henry Paker, Kay's Brilliant Brains 2023: Adam Kay and Henry Paker, Amy Gets Eaten 2023: Adam Kay and Henry Paker, Kay’s Incredible Inventions Personal life Kay is gay, and was voted in Pink News' top 50 most influential LGBT Twitter users. Kay married James Farrell in 2018, and together they have two children through surrogacy which he announced in June 2023. Kay and his family live in Oxfordshire, England. References. Discover the Adam Kay popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Adam Kay books.
Best Seller Adam Kay Books of 2024
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The Doctor Will See You Now
Amir Khan'Honest, compassionate, brave and big hearted' LORRAINE KELLY'Celebrates human beings in all their glorious, messy imperfection' CAT DEELEY Sunday Times Bestseller updated with a...
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Anti-Social
Nick Pettigrew'AntiSocial is brutally honest, exceptionally funny and terribly sad a scything indictment of broken 21st century Britain. I could not put it down.' THE SECRET BARRISTER'A fascina...
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Black in Time
Alison Hammond & E. L. NorryHiya! Alison Hammond here! I love getting to know all about different people and I'll tell you a secret . . . sometimes people we don't know much about are the most interesting of ...
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Driving Forwards
Sophie L Morgan'A book that'll change your perspective on life. You'll not be able to put it down.' Fearne Cotton'Inspirational, eyeopening and deeply moving.' Mail on Sunday'A searing read.' Th...
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A Christmas Cornucopia
Mark ForsythBY THE SUNDAY TIMES NO.1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF A SHORT HISTORY OF DRUNKENNESSDiscover the unpredictable origins and etymologies of our Christmas customs this festive season. For s...
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The Last Romeo
Justin Myers'If you liked Bridget Jones's Diary, try this' BBC News 'So funny and sharp, yet tender and emotional too. I loved it!' Jill Mansell 'I adored The Last Romeo . . . funny, clever an...
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The Prison Teacher
Mim Skinner"The best book I've read this year" Rachael, Goodreads reviewer ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ "Fantastic" Rachel, Goodreads reviewer ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ "Funny, insightful, heartbreaking" NetGalley reviewer ⭐ ⭐...
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Here Comes the Miracle
Anna Beecher'I adored this novel' Pandora Sykes'Incredibly moving' Charlie Gilmour'I read it in two evenings' Clover Stroud'Brilliant' Sarah MossIt begins with a miracle: a baby born too small...
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On Call
Ineke MeredithFrank, hilarious, heartwrenching and intelligent, On Call is a peek inside the life of female general surgeon Dr Ineke MeredithIt's all in a mad day's work: the good, the bad and t...
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Office Politics
Oliver JamesA fascinating exposé of office culture, in the style of the bestselling Affluenza, from popular psychologist Oliver JamesThe modern working world is a dangerous place, where gamep...
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The Doctor Will See You Now
Max PembertonThe doctor is back again and on the wards! Now in his third year as junior doctor, Max looks and sounds the part. But this time around, things are not at all as he expected ...The ...
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One Last Dance
Emma Jane HolmesA sassy, heartbreaking and jawdropping memoir of life behind the scenes in a funeral home and strip club, written with all the panache, honesty and sensitivity of Rosie Waterland's...
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The Prosecutor
Nazir AfzalThe outsider who transformed our justice systemNazir Afzal knows a thing or two about justice. As a Chief Prosecutor, it was his job to make sure the most complex, violent and harr...
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The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober
Catherine GrayTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Not remotely preachy' The Times 'Jaunty, shrewd and convincing' Sunday Telegraph 'Admirably honest, light, bubbly and remarkably rarely annoying.'...
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A Question of Age
Jacinta ParsonsA beautifully written, searing and powerful examination of women and ageing that you will not be able to put down: intense, compelling, poetic, raging. Warning: this is not a selfh...
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Backing into the Spotlight
Michael Whitehall'Backing into the Spotlight is a hilarious and an unashamedly nonPC memoir . . . Now in his eighth decade, Whitehall is a fine raconteur, gloriously unreconstructed and still deep...
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Unnatural Causes
Dr Richard ShepherdTHE TRUE CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR AND 18WEEK SUNDAY TIMES TOP 10 BESTSELLER'One of the most fascinating books I have read in a long time. Engrossing, a haunting pageturner. A book I ...
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Sunshine Warm Sober
Catherine GrayThe longawaited sequel to THE UNEXPECTED JOY OF BEING SOBER the Sunday Times bestseller 'Exquisite' Fearne Cotton, Happy Place'A paean to the longerterm pleasures of staying boo...
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The Hairy Bikers Blood, Sweat and Tyres
Hairy BikersSi King and Dave Myers, AKA the Hairy Bikers have travelled an interesting road. Born in the north of England, both Si and Dave had their childhood challenges. For Si, being bullie...
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The Glass House
Anne Buist & Graeme SimsionA compelling, addictive novel for readers of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine told with heart, humour and insight by Anne Buist and The Rosie Project's Graeme SimsionWelcome to ...
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The Patient Doctor
Ben BraveryAt the age of twentyeight, with his Beijingbased science communications business doing well and a new relationship blossoming, Ben Bravery woke from a colonoscopy to be told he had...
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Excommunicated
Craig HoyleA heartwrenching multigenerational family memoir by an excommunicated member of the Exclusive BrethrenAfter coming out as gay, Craig Hoyle was excommunicated from the New Zealand E...
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The Seven Ages of Death
Dr Richard ShepherdThe heartwrenchingly honest new book about life and death from forensic pathologist and bestselling author of UNNATURAL CAUSES, Dr Richard ShepherdA TIMES AND SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF ...
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Selling the Dream
Jane MariePeabody and Emmy Award–winning journalist Jane Marie expands on her popular podcast The Dream to expose the scourge of multilevel marketing schemes and how they have profited off t...
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Adam Kay Bundle
Adam KayLearn all about the human body with this bundle of Kay's Anatomy and Kay's Marvellous Medicine from bestselling author, Adam Kay.From what's going on inside our bodies, to when and...
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34 Patients
Tom TempletonDiscover the profound and moving portrait of one doctor's life and work in the NHS'Wonderful insightful and compassionate' Dr Richard Shepherd, bestselling author of Unnatural Cau...
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The Book of the Year 2018
No Such Thing As A Fish‘My favourite geeks. Hilarious. Sideways. Brilliant.’ Tim MinchinIn a year dominated by Russian collusion and Brexit confusion, The Book of the Year returns with another dose of ba...
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Sharon Osbourne Survivor
Sharon Osbourne'Vintage Sharon . . . fiery and passionate' HEAT'The formidable Mrs O is just as honest and open in this second instalment of her life story as the first . . . a real pageturner' ...
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Be Bulletproof
James Brooke & Simon BrookeThis is the essential guide for anyone looking to get ahead in the warzone that is often the workplace.However good you are, there are always times you come under fire at work. But...
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The Quick and the Dead
Cynric Temple-CampTrue stories of life and death from a New Zealand pathologist From the numberone bestselling author of The Cause of Death comes a book about the unlikely, extraordinary, obscure an...
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The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy
John BrehmOver 125 poetic companions, from Basho to Billy Collins, Saigyo to Shakespeare.The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy received the Spirituality & Practice Book A...
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Undoctored
Adam KayTHE NO. 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER NOW INCLUDING BRAND NEW MATERIALTHIS IS GOING TO HURT was the bestselling nonfiction book of the century a frank, funny and furious look at the ...
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Moonshot
Dan Parry'It didn't matter that they were now three miles beyond their target site, that communications were dropping out and that they were running low on fuel. All that mattered to Neil a...
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The Anti-Cool Girl
Rosie WaterlandBrutal, brave, hilarious a fullfrontal memoir about surviving the very worst that life can throw at you.Rosie Waterland has never been cool. Growing up in housing commission, Rosi...
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The Heathrow Doctor
Dr Stephanie GreenAn exhilarating insight into the life of a doctor at Heathrow Airport, where the truth is often stranger than fiction.For over a decade, Stephanie Green was a doctor oncall for one...
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Hot Mess
Matt Winning'A very funny, important and only moderately terrifying clarion call of a book' Adam Kay'HOT MESS provides loads of laughs about "the climate situation" and will position you at...
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Touching Cloth
Fergus Butler-Gallie'Touching Cloth can be compared to Adam Kay's This Is Going to Hurt and the writings of the Secret Barrister' Observer'I laughed my way through this... Funny, fascinating, and gorg...
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Signs of Murder
David WilsonFrom the UK's leading criminologist comes the true story of Margaret McLaughlin, and the man he believes was fitted up for her murder 'Enthralling ... will leave true crime readers...
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The Dharma of Poetry
John BrehmDiscover how to engage with poetry to support your spiritual practice, leading to more mindfulness, equanimity, and joy.In The Dharma of Poetry, John Brehm shows how poems can open...
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Growing Pains
Dr Mike Shooter'A remarkable, powerful, tender and insightful book that will change lives' Stephen Fry'A unique book . . . The stories [Shooter] tells are poignant and powerful testimonies to the...
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A Heart So Big
Rio HogartyONE WOMAN. 140 NEEDY CHILDREN. A FOSTER MOTHER'S INSPIRING LIFE STORY. Rio Hogarty has always opened her home and her heart to children in need. And she has never stopped. A Heart ...