Garth Nix | |
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![]() Nix at the 2014 Comic Con | |
Born | Garth Richard Nix 19 July 1963 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
Occupation | Writer |
Nationality | Australian |
Genre | Fantasy |
Years active | 1990–present |
Website | |
garthnix |
Garth Richard Nix (born 19 July 1963) is an Australian writer who specialises in children's and young adult fantasy novels, notably the Old Kingdom , Seventh Tower and Keys to the Kingdom series. He has frequently been asked if his name is a pseudonym, to which he has responded, "I guess people ask me because it sounds like the perfect name for a writer of fantasy. However, it is my real name." [1]
Born in Melbourne, Nix was raised in Canberra. [2] He attended Turner Primary School, Lyneham High School and Dickson College for schooling. While at Dickson College, Nix joined the Australian Army Reserve. [3] After a period working for the Australian government, he traveled in Europe before returning to Australia in 1983 and undertaking a BA in professional writing at University of Canberra.
He worked in a Canberra bookshop after graduation, before moving to Sydney in 1987, where he worked his way up in the publishing field. He was a sales rep and publicist before becoming a senior editor at HarperCollins. In 1993 he commenced further travel in Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe before becoming a marketing consultant, founding his own company, Gotley Nix Evans Pty Ltd. From 1999 to 2002 he worked as a literary agent with Curtis Brown (Australia) Pty Ltd before becoming a full-time author. [4]
In addition to his work as a fantasy novelist, Nix has written a number of scenarios and articles for the role playing field, including those for Dungeons & Dragons and Traveller . These have appeared in related publications such as White Dwarf , Multiverse and Breakout!. He has also written case studies, articles and news items in the information technology field, his work appearing in publications such as Computerworld and PC World . [4]
Nix was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in the 2025 King's Birthday Honours. [5]
Nix currently lives in Sydney with his wife Anna McFarlane, a publisher, [6] and their sons Thomas and Edward.
This series was self-published, and republished by Text Publishing. Described as books for "Very Clever Babies Aged 3–6 Months", they contain such words as ichthyologist, as used by the character Freddy the Fish.