Jonathan Pett

Jonathan Pett is a British playwright, screenwriter and novelist who met French writer Fiorella Ruas on a night train between Paris and Venice, and they have been writing together ever since.

Their work explores identity, belonging, family, class, memory and the hidden tensions beneath ordinary lives. Combining dark humour, emotional complexity and a distinctly European sensibility, they write across theatre, film, television and fiction.

Their debut novel, Finding Grace, follows a woman who leaves her own birthday party to buy more wine — and keeps walking — setting in motion a journey across France and Spain that forces an entire family to confront the stories they tell themselves about love, marriage and who they really are.

They are currently writing WOW (Women Only Weekend), an ensemble novel about friendship, reinvention and the complicated lives of contemporary women.

Their theatre work began at the Royal National Theatre Studio, where The Pariahs was selected for the New Writing Festival, leading to a commission for The Hanuman, later nominated for the George Devine Award by Jocelyn Herbert. Other plays include Moonwater, Chasing Dolphins and To The Passer By. Together they adapted Thomas Hardy's A Pair of Blue Eyes for Birmingham Repertory Theatre and Belgrade Theatre before the production transferred to the Edinburgh Festival, attracting critical acclaim and industry attention, including a special showcase hosted by Miramax in London.

For film and television, they have written and developed projects for companies including World Productions, BBC, Carnival Films, Scala Productions, Sombrero Productions and Téléma. They have also worked as script consultants for organisations including the Royal Shakespeare Company and Working Title Television.

Jonathan and Fiorella live and write on the Camino, creating stories about families, outsiders, dreamers, immigrants, artists and those searching for connection in an increasingly fragmented world.