Anthony Horowitz

Infobox Writer
name = Anthony Horowitz

|imagesize = 150px |
caption =
birthdate =Birth date and age|1956|4|5|df=y
birthplace =Stanmore, England
occupation =author, screenwriter
nationality =English
genre =Adventure, Mystery, Thriller, Horror
notableworks ="Alex Rider", "The Power of Five"
spouse =Jill Green (1988–present)
children =Nicholas Mark, Cassian James
influences =James Bond, Charles Dickens, Alfred Hitchcock


website = http://www.anthonyhorowitz.com/

Anthony Horowitz (born 5 April 1956) is an English author and screenwriter. He has written many children's and young adult novels, including the "Alex Rider" and "Diamond Brothers" series. He has also written extensively for television, adapting many of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot novels for ITV series. He is the creator and writer of the ITV series "Foyle's War".

Biography

Anthony Horowitz was born in Stanmore, Middlesex, England, into a Jewish family. He has described his father, a businessman, as a "fixer for Harold Wilson" [ [http://www.anthonyhorowitz.com/about/ Anthony Horowitz - About Anthony ] ] and as a very secretive man. Facing bankruptcy, Horowitz's father removed his wealth from his Zürich bank accounts, hiding it away under a false name. He then died, leaving his wife searching for but never finding the money.cite web| url = http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/10950/| title= Horowitz ... Anthony Horowitz| author = Jewish Exponent| date = 2006-10-12] In 1963, at the age of eight, Horowitz was sent to a boarding school (Orley Farm in Harrow, London) where his childhood unhappiness intensified. He recalls the headmaster of the school "flogging the boys until they bled". The memories have never left him. Horowitz later attended Rugby School and the University of York.

Anthony now lives in North London with his wife Jill Green, whom he married in Hong Kong on April 15, 1988. Green produces "Foyle's War", the series Horowitz writes for ITV. They have two sons, Nicholas Mark (born 1989) and Cassian James (born 1991). He credits his family with much of his success in writing, as he says they help him with ideas and research.

Writing career

1979–1991

Horowitz's first book was a humorous adventure for children "The Sinister Secret of Frederick K Bower" published in 1979 [Anthony Horowitz. "Thellllll Sinister Secret of Frederick K. Bower" (London: Arlington Books, 1979)] and later reissued as "Enter Frederick K Bower". In 1981 his second novel, "Misha, the Magician and the Mysterious Amulet" was published and he moved to Paris to write his third book. [Anthony Horowitz. "Misha, the Magician and the Mysterious Amulet" (London: Arlington Books, 1981)] In 1983 the first of the Pentagram series, "The Devil's Door-bell" was released. This story saw Martin Hopkins battling an ancient evil that threatened the whole world. Only three of four remaining stories in the series were ever written: "The Night of the Scorpion" (1984), "The Silver Citadel" (1986) and "Day of the Dragon" (1989).

In between writing these novels, Horowitz turned his attention to legendary characters, working with Richard Carpenter on "Robin Sherwood: The Hooded Man" (1986), and writing the "New Adventures of William Tell" (1987).

In 1988, "Groosham Grange" was published. This book went on to win the 1989 Lancashire Children's Book of the Year Award. cite web| title=Lancashire Children's Book of the Year| url=http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/libraries/services/children/cboty/cbotyhistory.asp] It was partially based on the years Horowitz spent at boarding school. Its central character is a thirteen-year-old "witch", David Eliot (based on the myth of the seventh child of a seventh child). Like Horowitz's, Eliot's childhood is unhappy. The Groosham Grange books are aimed at a slightly younger audience than Horowitz's previous books.

This era in Horowitz's career also saw "Adventurer" (1987) and "Starting Out" (1990) published . However, the most major release of Horowitz's early career was "The Falcon's Malteser" (1986). This book was the first in the successful "Diamond Brothers" series, and was filmed unsuccessfully for television in 1989 as "Just Ask For Diamond". It was followed in 1987 "Public Enemy Number Two", and by "South by South East" in 1991. Horowitz also released a collection of rewritten "Myths and Legends" in 1991.

1994–2000

Horowitz wrote many stand-alone novels in the 1990s. 1994's "Granny" was Horowitz's first book in three years, and it was the first of three books for an audience similar to that of "Groosham Grange". The second of these was "The Switch", first published in 1996. The third was 1998's "The Devil and His Boy", which is set in the Elizabethan era, and explores the rumour of Elizabeth I's secret son. In 1999, "The Unholy Grail" was published as a sequel to "Groosham Grange".

"The Unholy Grail" was renamed as "Return to Groosham Grange" in 2003, possibly to help readers understand the connection between the books. "Horowitz Horror" (1999) and "More Horowitz Horror" (2000) saw Horowitz exploring a darker side of his writing. Each book contains several short horror stories. Many of these stories were repackaged in twos or threes as the "Pocket Horowitz" series.

2000–present

Horowitz began his most famous and successful series in the new millennium with the Alex Rider novels. These books are about a 14-year old boy becoming a spy. He is a member of MI6. Currently, there are seven Alex Rider books: "Stormbreaker" (2000), "Point Blanc" (2001), "Skeleton Key" (2002), "Eagle Strike" (2003), "Scorpia" (2004) "Ark Angel" (2005) and "Snakehead" (2007). All the Alex Rider books have been released in April, one every year ("Ark Angel" was released on April 1, 2005) However, no seventh book arrived in 2006, presumably due to Horowitz's commitments to the "Power of Five" series and the Stormbreaker movie, which was released in the UK in July 2006. The seventh Alex Rider novel, "Snakehead", was released October 31, 2007. [ [http://anthonyhorowitz.com/newscentre/alexrider/february-nightrise-walker-books-and-snakehead/26/ News - Nightrise, Walker Books and Snakehead] ] Horowitz planned to travel to such places as Australia and Thailand in research for the novel in late 2006. Horowitz also has an idea for the eighth Alex Rider novel, but he says "Alex won't be in it". At the Bath Festival of Children's Literature, he revealed the title of this book would most likely be "Yassen", although he has confirmed to Red House Readers it will be "Yassen Teenage Assassin". [ [http://www.citv.co.uk/page.asp?partid=280#Scene_1 CITV: Anthony Horowitz! ] ] He has since decided that "Yassen Teenage Assassin' will instead be the basis for ninth novel.

In 2003 Horowitz also wrote three novels featuring the Diamond Brothers: "The Blurred Man", "The French Confection" and "I Know What You Did Last Wednesday", which were republished together as "Three of Diamonds" in 2004. The author information page in early editions of "Scorpia" and the introduction to "Three of Diamonds" claimed that Horowitz had travelled to Australia to research a new Diamond Brothers book, entitled "Radius of the Lost Shark". However, this book has not been mentioned since, so it is doubtful it is still planned. A new Diamond Brothers "short" book entitled "The Greek who Stole Christmas" was later released. It is hinted at the end of "The Greek who Stole Christmas" that "Radius of the Lost Shark" may turn out to be the eighth book in the series. [ [http://www.redhouse.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10151_18251_95165_100_17604_17604_category_ The Greek Who Stole Christmas by Anthony Horowitz - Red House Books ] ]

Horowitz has recently branched out to an adult audience with 2004's "The Killing Joke", a comedy about a man who tries to track a joke to its source with disastrous consequences. Horowitz's second adult novel, "The Magpie Murders", was due out on October 18, 2006. This date passed with no further news on the book; all that is known about it is that it will be about "a whodunit writer who is murdered while he's writing his latest whodunit" and "it has an ending which I hope will come as a very nasty surprise".cite web| title=Orion Publishing Group| work=Anthony Horowitz, author of The Killing Joke, answers our questions| url=http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/QandA.aspx?id=10964&catID=0| accessdate=12 October| accessyear=2006] As the initial release date was not met, it is not currently known if or when "The Magpie Murders" will be released.

In August 2005, Horowitz released a book called "Raven's Gate" which began another series entitled "The Power of Five" ("The Gatekeepers" in the United States). He describes it as "Alex Rider with witches and devils".cite web| title=News| url=http://www.anthonyhorowitz.com/news/archive/jan2005.html] The second book in the series, "Evil Star", was released in April 2006. The third in the series is called "Nightrise", and was released on 2 April 2007.

"The Power of Five" is a rewritten, modern version of the Pentagram series from the 1980s. Although Pentagram required five books for story development, Horowitz completed only four: The Devil's Door-bell (Raven's Gate), The Night of the Scorpion (Evil Star), The Silver Citadel (Nightrise) and Day of the Dragon (Necropolis (2008 novel)). Horowitz was clearly aiming for the same audience that read the "Alex Rider" novels with these rewrites, and "The Power of Five" has gained more public recognition than his earlier works, earning number 1 in the top 10 book chart.

Bibliography

Groosham Grange

* "Groosham Grange" (1988)
* "Return to Groosham Grange" (1999)

Alex Rider

* "Stormbreaker" (2000)
* "Point Blanc" (2001)
* "Skeleton Key" (2002)
* "Eagle Strike" (2003)
* "Scorpia" (2004)
* "Ark Angel" (2005)
* "Snakehead" (2007)

Diamond Brothers

* "The Falcon's Malteser" (1986)
* "Public Enemy Number Two" (1987)
* "South by South East" (1991)
* "The Blurred Man" (2003)
* "The French Confection" (2003)
* "I Know What You Did Last Wednesday" (2003)
* "The Greek Who Stole Christmas" (2007)
* "The Radius of the Lost Shark" (Forthcoming)

Pentagram

* "The Devil's Door-bell" (1983)
* "The Night of the Scorpion" (1984)
* "The Silver Citadel" (1986)
* "Day of the Dragon" (1989)

Power of Five (In US: The Gatekeepers)

* "Raven's Gate" (1 August 2005)
* "Evil Star" (2 April 2006)
* "Nightrise" (3 April 2007)
* "" (30 October 2008) (Forthcoming)

Other novels

* "Enter Frederick K Bower" (1978)
* "The Sinister Secret of Frederick K Bower" (1979)
* "Misha, the Magician and the Mysterious Amulet" (1981)
* "Robin of Sherwood: The Hooded Man" (1986) (with Richard Carpenter)
* "Adventurer (1987)
* "New Adventures of William Tell" (1987)
* "Starting Out" (1990)
* "Granny" (1994)
* "The Switch" (1996)
* "The Devil And His Boy" 1444

Adult novels

* "William S." (1999)
* "Mindgame" (2001) (adapted later as a play)
* "The Killing Joke" (2004)
* "The Magpie Murders" (2006)

Collections

* "Myths and Legends" (1991)
* "Horowitz Horror" (1999)
* "More Horowitz Horror" (2001)
* "The Kingfisher Book of Myths and Legends" (2003)
* "Three of Diamonds" (2004)

Television and film

Horowitz began writing for television in the 1980s, contributing to the children's anthology series "Dramarama", and also writing for the popular fantasy series "Robin of Sherwood". His association with murder mysteries began with the adaptation of several Hercule Poirot stories for ITV's popular "Agatha Christie's Poirot" series during the 1990s.

Often his work has a comic edge, such as with the comic murder anthology "Murder Most Horrid" (BBC Two, 1991) and the comedy-drama "The Last Englishman" (1995), starring Jim Broadbent. From 1997, he wrote the majority of the episodes in the early series of "Midsomer Murders". In 2001, he created a drama anthology series of his own for the BBC, "Murder in Mind", an occasional series which deals with a different set of characters and a different murder every one-hour episode.

He is also less-favourably known for the creation of two short-lived and sometimes derided science-fiction shows, "Crime Traveller" (1997) for BBC One and "The Vanishing Man" (pilot 1996, series 1998) for ITV. The successful 2002 launch of the detective series "Foyle's War", set during the Second World War, helped to restore his reputation as one of Britain's foremost writers of popular drama.

Horowitz is the writer of a feature film screenplay, "The Gathering", which was released in 2002 and starred Christina Ricci. He wrote the screenplay for Alex Rider's first major motion picture, "Stormbreaker" and is working on the screenplay for the second: "Point Blanc".

References

External links

* [http://www.anthonyhorowitz.com/ Official website]
*

Persondata
NAME= Horowitz, Anthony
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Author
DATE OF BIRTH= April 5, 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH= Stanmore, Middlesex, England
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=