Robert Holdstock biography

Robert Holdstock was born in Hythe, Kent. He became a full-time writer during 1976 and lived out the rest of his life in North London. He died in hospital at the age of 61, following his collapse with an E. coli infection. His breakthrough novel Mythago Wood was published during 1984. The book marked the beginning of the Ryhope Wood series and is recognized as Holdstock's first major fantasy work. From 2001 to 2007 he produced a trilogy of fantasy novels, the Merlin Codex, consisting of Celtika, The Iron Grail and The Broken Kings.

Robert Holdstock is placed in a quartet of fantasy authors (also including Ursula Le Guin, John Crowley and Marion Zimmer Bradley) renowned for writing fantasy books that come close to J. R. R. Tolkien's work in regards to breadth and depth of imagination.