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Garth Nix biography

Nix was born in 1963 in Melbourne, Australia, and spent his childhood in Canberra. Before attended the University of Canberra from 1984-1986 he spent time travelling in the UK. Emerging in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in professional writing, Nix soon became heavily involved in the publishing industry after moving to Sydney, working his way up the corporate ladder until finally becoming a senior editor in 1991 with HarperCollins Australia.

He left to travel through Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia in 1993, returning to work in 1994 with an IT public relations and marketing firm which in 1996 led to him co-founding PR firm Gotley Nix Evans Pty Ltd. In 1999 he joined Curtis Brown, an Australian literary agency, as a part-time agent after a stint as a full-time writer in 1998.

However, in 2002, Nix once more became a full-time writer. He has worked as a part-time soldier in the Australian Army Reserve, serving four years in an Assault Pioneer platoon, and as a bookseller, book sales representative, publicist, editor, marketing consultant and literary agent. His books are published around the world and have been translated into 36 languages.

What kinds of books did you like to read when you were a boy?
I've always read very widely, a habit that started very early. One of my favorite books as an eight or nine year old was a 1930s encyclopedia called Arthur Mee's Children's Encyclopaedia. I used to read entire volumes of that over several weeks, paying equal attention to science, history, literature and so on. But my favorite part of it was the color section on heraldry and the list of old English coins, like how many groats equaled a penny and so on. This was probably indicative of the sort of writer I would become. Later on, I read a lot of science fiction, fantasy and history (both novels and non-fiction). Many of the books I read then I have included in my list of favorites on my website.
Excerpt of Writers Write Interview - 2000

Nix's books have appeared on the bestseller lists of The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, The Bookseller, The Australian and The Sunday Times. His first published book was The Ragwitch, a young adult fantasy published by Forge in 1995, which was followed by Sabriel and Shade's Children (HarperCollins). Shade's Children was short listed for the 1997 Aurealis Awards, is an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, an ABA Pick of the Lists, a CBCA Notable Book, and has been short listed for the Heartland Prize (U.S.), the 2000 Pacific Northwest Reader's Choice Awards (U.S.), the South Carolina Reader's Choice Awards, the Evergreen YA Award and the Garden State Young Reader's Awards. Sabriel won both the Best Fantasy Novel and Best Young Adult Novel in the 1995 Aurealis Awards. It is also an American Library Association (ALA) Notable Book, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, a CBCA Notable Book, a LOCUS magazine Recommended Fantasy novel, listed in 1997 Books for the Teenage (New York Public Library), listed in Best Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror (VOYA) and it was short listed for six U.S. State awards.

What do you enjoy most about writing young adult and children's fiction? Do you feel it gives you more freedom as a writer than writing strictly for adults? (Of course, many adults enjoy your books, as well.
To be honest, most of the time I don't think about the fact that I am writing for children or young adults. I simply enjoy telling the story and the way I naturally write seems to work well for both young and older audiences. I also don't really think about freedom. Because my natural writing voice seems to inhabit the Young Adult realm (which is accepted as being for children who are becoming adults and adults who haven't forgotten being younger), I haven't had to change it, which is when I would start thinking about freedom or the lack of it.
Excerpt of Writers Write Interview - 2000

Garth Nix has recently signed a reported seven-figure deal for three new titles, two being additions to the Old Kingdom series, a prequel and a sequel, the first of which has the working title Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen. These titles will appear in 2010 and 2011. His series The Seventh Tower is currently being published in the UK, starting with The Fall in March 2008.

He currently lives in Coogee, Sydney, with his wife, Anna, and his sons, Thomas and Edward Nix.

Garth Nix books

Old Kingdom Series (also known as the Abhorsen Trilogy in the USA)

Sabriel (1995)
Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr (2001)
Abhorsen (2003)
Clariel: The lost Abhorsen (2010)
Untitled (2011)

Seventh Tower Series (Due for release in the UK beginnng March 2008)

The Fall (2000)
Castle (2000)
Aenir (2000)
Above The Veil (2000)
Into Battle (2001)
The Violet Keystone (2001)

Keys to the Kingdom Series

Mister Monday (2003)
Grim Tuesday (2003)
Drowned Wednesday (2005)
Sir Thursday (2006)
Lady Friday (2007)
Superior Saturday (2008)
Lord Sunday (2009)

Latest news: Garth Nix

Fantasy news round-up: May 20, 2010
Light a candle for JK Rowling’s charity JK Rowling's children's charity, Lumos, is asking you to light a virtual birthday candle to support its campaign to deinstitutionalise children in eastern European countries such as Moldova and the Czech Republic. Thousands of children living in these inst [...]

Troubletwisters: the Adelaide/Sydney fantasy collaboration
Egmont Press has acquired a children's fantasy series from bestselling novelists Garth Nix (The Keys to the Kingdom, The Seventh Tower) and Sean Williams (Star Wars: Force Heretic, The Broken Land trilogy). The authors, both Australian, plan to harness some Harry Potter-style magic in a five-book [...]

The Toymaker by Jeremy De Quidt reviewed on Fantasy Book Review
What good is a toy that will wind down? What if you could put a heart in one? A real heart. One that beat and beat and didn't stop. What couldn't you do if you could make a toy like that? From the moment Mathias becomes the owner of a mysterious piece of paper, he is in terrible danger. Entangled in [...]

Garth Nix on Australia’s book import restrictions
Currently, if a book is published in Australia within 30 days of its release overseas, booksellers cannot import potentially cheaper versions. In its draft report, the commission recommends importation of foreign books should be allowed 12 months after a title is first published in Australia. It p [...]

Anderson Press to introduce e-books
Andersen Press is the latest children’s publisher to introduce e-books and has plans to publish 23 young adult titles as e-books this year. The main children’s publishing houses each have around 100 books available as e-books, with Puffin leading the way at about 150 titles. All plan to increase the [...]

Garth Nix on how to get published
Getting a start in writing seems easier than ever in the blogging era, but getting your words into print in book form is still a daunting task. Seek inspiration from the author interview podcasts at the Sydney Writers Centre. Featured authors include comic novelist Nick Earl, hugely successful fa [...]

Australian publishers to battle 'open market'
Australian publishers intend to battle any changes to the country's parallel importation legislation, after the government said it intended to review the law. Australian fantasy writer Garth Nix has also leapt to its defence describing a likely "open" market as a "surrendered" market. According to [...]

New Abhorsen Titles On The Way!
Garth Nix has announced that there are to be a further two titles in the Abhorsen series due out in 2010 and 2011 respectively. First will be Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen, set some three centuries before Sabriel it tells the story of a young women who eventually becomes known as Chlorr of the Mask. T [...]

Sabriel To Come To The Big Screen?
Garth Nix is in the process of co-writing the screen play of his first book in the Abhorsen Trilogy in order to pitch to a number of Studios in America later this month. Rumours are that the Director will be Anand Tucker (Shopgirl) and the film will be produced by Brad Pitt's company, Plan B. We a [...]

Book review: Lirael by Garth Nix
"There are some wonderful new characters and equally some wonderful old ones that each play their part in this multifaceted tale of death." Lirael is the sequel to Garth Nix's Sabriel and improves upon it's predecessor with a rating of 8.5 out of 10 that currently places the fantasy novel at #37 [...]


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