Derek Landy

Derek Landy

Landy in Edinburgh, August 2011
Born Derek Landy
Nationality Irish
Genre Children's fantasy
Notable works Skulduggery Pleasant
Notable awards Red House Children's Book Award
2008 Skullduggery Pleasant

Derek Landy (born 23 October 1974) is an Irish author and screenwriter, best known for the Skulduggery Pleasant series of children's books.

Career

Landy has written two screenplays that have been made into films, the IFTA award winning Dead Bodies and the IFTA nominated Boy Eats Girl starring Samantha Mumba. Landy himself was nominated for an IFTA for Best Script.

Frustrated with the collaborative process of filmmaking, Landy moved on to writing the Skulduggery Pleasant, starting with Skulduggery Pleasant.[1] The novel was published by Harper Collins, who paid £1.8 million for the publishing rights.[2] There are 9 books in the series. In 2007, he signed a deal with Warner Bros. worth an estimated US$1 million for the rights to adapt his Skulduggery Pleasant series, which he will adapt himself.[3] However, his script was constantly rewritten and Landy, unhappy with the results, bought back the rights. He is currently working on a script with the producers of Clash of the Titans.

Landy is a fan of Joss Whedon's works, notably Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series.[4] He is also a fan of Gilmore Girls and Doctor Who.

Novels

Future

Landy wrote a short story based on the tenth Doctor from Doctor Who as part of a short story collection celebrating the show's 50th Anniversary. The story was published by Puffin in 2013, titled "The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage".

Landy is also planning a second series due September 2015. During the Theatre of Shadows he was one quarter of the way into writing it. Derek said that the book will have some of the same elements as the Skulduggery Pleasant series but will also have horror. There will be fast-talking characters and it will be for a little older age group.

In an interview with elev8 he said it will be a trilogy about a 16 year old girl who is being chased across America by a pack of Demons.

Personal life

Landy was born in 1974 in Dublin, Ireland.[5] He attended Drogheda Grammar School during his childhood years, briefly studied animation at Ballyfermot College,[6] and has a black belt in kenpo karate.[3] Prior to his contract with HarperCollins, he worked on his parents' vegetable farm.[1]

Reception

In a review of his first book, Sarah Webb of the Irish Independent wrote that it "is taut, full of zippy dialogue and fantastically visual".[2]

Awards

In 2008, Landy won the Red House Children's Book Award.[7] Playing with Fire and Mortal Coil both won the senior Irish Children's Book Award, in 2009 and 2010.[5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Dwyer, Clara (11 December 2011). "Plotting a great escape". Irish Independent. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Webb, Sarah (24 February 2007). "Skulduggery that's worth a cool £1.8m!". Irish Independent. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Warner Bros. scoops high-profile kids' book series". Reuters. 24 May 2007. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  4. ↑ Rowbotham, Jill (6 March 2010). "Pointing the Bone". The Australian. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Skulduggery Pleasant: Death Bringer". RTÉ.ie. 13 October 2011. Archived from the original on 24 October 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  6. ↑ Spain, John (24 February 2007). "Gardener in ?1.5m book deal hailed as new JK Rowling". Irish Independent. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  7. ↑ Pauli, Michelle (31 May 2008). "Hay festival: Derek Landy wins Red House prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 November 2013.

External links