GARTH NIX
Garth Nix was born in 1963 in Melbourne, Australia. A full-time writer since 2001, he previously worked as a literary agent, marketing consultant, book editor, book publicist, book sales representative, bookseller, and as a part-time soldier in the Australian Army Reserve.
Garth's books include the award-winning young adult fantasy novels Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen and Clariel; the dystopian novel Shade's Children; the space opera A Confusion of Princes; and a Regency romance with magic, Newt's Emerald. His fantasy novels for children include The Ragwitch; the six books of the Seventh Tower sequence; the Keys to the Kingdom series; and the Troubletwisters series and Spirit Animals: Blood Ties (co-written with Sean Williams). More than five million copies of his books have been sold around the world, his books have appeared on the bestseller lists of the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, the Guardian and the Australian, and his work has been translated into forty languages. He lives in a Sydney beach suburb with his wife and two children.
On writing fantasy:
'A fantasy novel should be like an iceberg. The story is the visible ten percent but the reader should feel like there is another ninety per cent under the surface that they can't see: it's not in the story but they know it's there. They should feel that the novel is built upon its own unique history, myths and legends, depths that are hinted at and suggested by the author, never to be fully explored or explained.'
On creating characters:
'I always find my characters through story. I have a vague idea what they might be like when I start writing, but generally they develop as the story develops. They become what they need to be for the story. Of course they then influence where I take the story…'
Favourite place
'The NSW south coast around Bawley Point has always been important and inspirational to me. I read many books for the first time at the coast, and have written at least part of every one of my books there.'
