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Derek Landy
Derek Landy
Derek Landy
Born October 23, 1974
Lusk, Dublin, Ireland
Nationality Irish

Derek Landy is the author of the Skulduggery Pleasant series

He confirmed at Booktopia that he will have a cameo role in the future. His true name may appear. [1] He later claimed that he has already appeared in the series [2] although he has kept a secret about what that character is and has no intention of revealing it. "It may be big or small, maybe an important character".

Biography[]

Derek Landy was born in 1974 in Lusk, County Dublin, Ireland. He went to art college but left after a year. He has written two screenplays that have been made into films. The IFTA award winner Dead bodies and a IFTA nominee Boy Eats Girl. (In a biography he refers to them as "a zombie movie and a slasher thriller where everybody gets killed")

Derek-landy-193x300

Derek with Skulduggery Pleasant

He himself was nominated for an IFTA for Best Script.

Later he moved on to writing the Skulduggery Pleasant novels. The first novel of the series was Skulduggery Pleasant (Later re-titled as Skulduggery Pleasant: Scepter of the Ancients for the paperback release in the USA) was published by HarperCollins (which according to The Sunday Times paid €1million for the publishing rights). He has so far wrote 11 "main books" along with 3 novellas and a short story collection.

He currently lives on the edge of Dublin with his many cats and dogs.

He wrote two stories that are not set in the Skulduggery Pleasant Universe: One for a Hallowe'en anthology and another for the Doctor Who Universe, celebrating 50 years of Doctor Who. A story he wrote on Twitter may or may not be canonical to the Skulduggery Pleasant Universe.

History[]

Nothing much is to be found about Derek Landy's history as his autobiographies are very vague (In most of them he writes "The reason Derek writes his own biographical blurb is so he can finally refer to himself in third person without looking pompous or insane". He also mentions that for the earlier part of his life, he was raised by foxes. But presumably, this is not true). He said that he, prior to writing the Skulduggery Pleasant series, foiled a giggling maniac's citywide crime spree, wrestled a grizzly bear, and found the lost city of gold, also saying that he promptly lost the lost city of gold, because he was unable to remember which big tree it was next to.

He attended Drogheda Grammar School and that he is also a black belt in kenpo karate. (In an autobiography he wrote that "he has taught countless children how to defend themselves in the hopes of building his own private munchkin army".)

Bibliography[]

Book Series[]

Screenplays[]

  • Dead Bodies (2003)
  • Boy Eats Girl (2005)

Other[]

  • Haunted: Songs the Dead sing (2011)
  • The Tale of Molly (2013)
  • Doctor Who: The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage (2013)
  • The Hero of Drumree: A Beyond the Stars Story (2014)
  • Secret Empire: Uprising #1 (2017)

Trivia[]

  • Derek Landy first came up with the series in the summer of 2005. During conceptualization, he pondered if he should set the story in the real world or in a fantasy one.[3]
  • Landy has stated that it is the hardest to write China Sorrows (as he has to be careful not to include any jokes in her narration) and the easiest to write Valkyrie Cain (as, to him, she feels the most real).[4]
  • To him, Teleportation is the best magical ability.[5]
  • Harry Potter greatly influenced his writing.[6]
  • He made sure that he could connect the Skulduggery Pleasant universe with the Demon Road universe if he were to come up with a crossover idea.[7]
  • Landy only ever listens to soundtracks while writing.[8]
  • He does not regret anything he has written in the books. However, he does wish that he had set some magic rules slightly differently.[9]
  • He does not narrate the audiobooks himself because he stammers.
  • Skulduggery's first date of death, October 23, is Landy's birthday.

Videos Interviews[]

Many other videos can be found at HarperCollins Children's Books

External Links[]

Awards[]

Wins[]

  • Red House Children's book award (2008, book 1)
  • Hampshire book award (2008, book 1)
  • Bolton children's book award (2008,book 1)
  • Staffordshire Young Teen Fiction award (2008, book 1)
  • Portsmouth book award (2008, book 1)
  • Kernow Youth award (2009, book 1)
  • Grampian book award (2009, book 1)
  • Senior Irish Children's book award (2009, Playing With Fire)
  • Senior Irish Children's book award (2010, Mortal Coil)
  • Irish book of the decade (2010, book 1)
  • Senior Irish Children's book award (2013, Last Stand of Dead Men)

Nominations[]

  • Senior Irish Children's book award (2011, Death Bringer)
  • Senior Irish Children's book award (2012, Kingdom of the Wicked)
  • Senior Irish Children's book award (2014 The Dying of the Light)
  • IFTA Best Script (2003, Dead Bodies)
  • Senior Division Young Readers Choice Award (2010, book 1)

References[]

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