Beyond the Book: Background information when reading Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception

Beyond the Book

This article relates to Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception

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 (see below). Then in 2001 the first Artemis Fowl book was published and he was able to resign from teaching and concentrate fully on writing.  He lives in Ireland with his wife and two children.

He says, "I will keep writing until people stop reading or I run out of ideas. Hopefully neither of these will happen anytime soon."

Filed under

This "beyond the book article" relates to Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception. It originally ran in July 2005 and has been updated for the April 2006 paperback edition. Go to magazine.

This review is available to non-members for a limited time. For full access become a member today.