Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Best of 2024 ezine!

Eoin Colfer Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Eoin Colfer

Eoin Colfer

How to pronounce Eoin Colfer: Owen COLfer (Eoin is a very old Irish name, rarely used outside Ireland with this spelling)

Eoin Colfer Biography

Eoin Colfer (pronounced Owen) was born in Wexford on the South-East coast of Ireland in 1965, where he and his four brothers were brought up by his father (an elementary school teacher, historian and artist of note) and mother (a drama teacher). He first developed an interest in writing in primary (elementary) school with gripping Viking stories inspired by history he was learning in school at the time! 

After leaving school he got his degree from Dublin university and qualified as a primary school teacher, returning to work in Wexford. He married in 1991 and he and his wife spent about 4 years between 1992 and 1996 working in Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Italy. His first book, Benny and Omar, was published in 1998, based on his experiences in Tunisia; it has since been translated into many languages. A sequel followed in 1999, followed by some other books. Then in 2001 the first Artemis Fowl book was published and he was able to resign from teaching and concentrate fully on writing. 

He says, "I will keep writing until people stop reading or I run out of ideas." Hopefully neither of these will happen anytime soon. He lives in Ireland with his wife and two children.

Eoin Colfer's website

This bio was last updated on 01/16/2020. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Interview

An interview with Eoin Colfer, author of the Artemis Fowl series and the 6th installment to the late Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, And Another Thing.

This is a transcription from TheAuthorHour radio show. For additional questions not asked during the live show, visit TheAuthorHour

Matthew: My guest today is Eoin Colfer, international best selling author of the Artemis Fowl Series, which won the British Children's Book of the Year Award and has sold over 18 million copies. He's also the author of Half Moon Investigations, which was the basis for a TV series this year, plus the Supernaturalist and Airman. Eoin's latest book is the highly anticipated 6th installment to the late Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series and is called And Another Thing. Thanks for being on the show today Eoin.

Eoin: You're welcome Matthew, my pleasure.

Matthew: Now, before we get into the Hitchhiker's book, let's first talk about the Artemis Fowl series, real quick.

Eoin: Yeah.

Matthew: Those books have won a slew of awards, all of them have hit the New York Times Bestseller list, and they've been translated into dozens of languages, but like most authors you struggled at the beginning of your writing career to make a name for yourself, didn't you?

Eoin: I did, I mean I started when I was a young man, back in my early 20s. I'd just left college and I kind ...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Books by this Author

Books by Eoin Colfer at BookBrowse
Highfire jacket Reluctant Assassin jacket Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian jacket Plugged jacket
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Eoin Colfer but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

We recommend 9 similar authors

View all 9 Read-Alikes

Non-members can see 2 results. Become a member
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: My Friends
    My Friends
    by Hisham Matar
    The title of Hisham Matar's My Friends takes on affectionate but mournful tones as its story unfolds...
  • Book Jacket: James
    James
    by Percival Everett
    The Oscar-nominated film American Fiction (2023) and the Percival Everett novel it was based on, ...
  • Book Jacket
    But the Girl
    by Jessica Zhan Mei Yu
    Jessica Zhan Mei Yu's But the Girl begins with the real-life disappearance of Malaysia Airlines ...
  • Book Jacket: Patriot
    Patriot
    by Alexei Navalny
    On the 17th of January, 2024, colleagues of Alexei Navalny posted a message to his Instagram account...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
The Berry Pickers
by Amanda Peters
A four-year-old Mi'kmaq girl disappears, leaving a mystery unsolved for fifty years.
Book Jacket
In Our Midst
by Nancy Jensen
In Our Midst follows a German immigrant family’s fight for freedom after their internment post–Pearl Harbor.
Who Said...

A truly good book teaches me better than to read it...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Big Holiday Wordplay 2024

Enter Now

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.