Trudi Canavan biography

Trudi Canavan was born on the 23rd October 1969 in Melbourne, Australia. She won the Aurealis Award for her fantasy short story Whispers of the Mist Children in 1999 and has never looked back. In 2001 she further established herself as a fantasy writer of rare talent with The Magician's Guild, the first book in a trilogy which included The Novice and The High Lord.

The inspiration behind The Black Magician Trilogy came when Trudi Canavan read of the homeless people of Barcelona being rounded up and moved out of the city shortly before the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.

She believes that the major factors that can help an author to become successful lie in reading and writing a lot. A love for writing is also important as many writer will not earn much from their chosen career. She also believes that learning how the book industry works is extremely important as the industry itself will help an author more if they show understanding of the difficulties that other sectors of the book industry face.

As Canavan began writing a new trilogy called the Age of Five she decided to enlarge the fantasy world and feature more characters. She found that doubling the characters meant double the work but also found the process to be a lot of fun.

Trudi Canavan is not a religious person and as such the Black Magician Trilogy was set in a nonreligious world. However, the Age of Five did feature a pantheon of gods.

Trudi Canavan bibliography

• The Magicians' Guild (2004)
• The Novice (2004)
• The High Lord (2004)
• Priestess of the White (2006)
• Last of the Wilds (2006)
• Voice of the Gods (2007)
• The Traitor Queen (2007)

Trudi Canavan interviews

An interview with Trudi Canavan in August 2006 where she talks about the inspirations behind her writing, her love of painting and the work she currently had underway. Trudi Canavan interview with scifi.uk.com in 2006 >>

Orbit Books interviewed Trudi Canavan shortly after Voice of Gods was published. Orbit Books interview with Trudi Canavan >>