Biography
CHILDHOOD
Anthony Horowitz was born on April 5, 1956 in Stanmore, Middlesex in the United Kingdom. However, he spent most of his childhood in North London. Despite the fact that Horowitz grew up in a rich environment, where he had butlers, cooks, and maids at his every whim, his childhood was a troubling time for him. His father was a rich businessman, but was also emotionally distant which meant that he really didn't care towards Anthony's feelings, and basically ignored him. Horowitz's mother spent much of he life searching for the lost money her husband had stashed in a bank account that was under a false name and she gave him a human scull for his birthday, which may have created the building blocks to the kinds of books Horowitz writes. His grandmother was mean-spirited and malevolent and influence much of his life.
CAREER
Anthony Horowitz always wanted to be a writer ever since he was 8. He attended Orley Farm, a prep school in London. After that, he attended Rugby School and graduated from York University. After he graduated, he became an author when he was 23 years old as he published his first book,Enter Frederick K Bower and a year later, The Sinister Secret of Frederick K Bower. Since then, he also became a screenwriter, with his wife by his side, helping in turning his scrips into a reality. He created Foyle's War and the popular series,Midsomer Murders,Agatha Christie's Poirot and Murder Most Horrid. His only play,Mindgame, was produced and he has also written an adult novel,The Killing Joke. Finally, one of Horowitz most successful series, the Alex Rider series. The first book in the series about a teenage super spy won the Red House Children's Book Award.
WRITING STYLE
Vivid descriptions and a lot of suspense seems to be the main style of Anthony Horowitz's stories. He leaves no answer a reader might have unanswered, from the smell of Aunt Gwenda's home to the name of the statue in Auburn. No information is left blank. Suspense. Anthony Horowitz keeps his readers to the point where they are just dying to know what happens, not enough to force his readers to skip ahead, but enough to make his readers wonder what will happen next. Anthony mixes these two components together masterfully and what do you get? A compelling read.
TODAY
Horowitz currently lives in North London, his childhood home, with his wife Jill Green and their two adopted sons, Nicholas Mark and Cassian James. They also have a very unlucky dog who was ran over three times ironically named Lucky. Anthony is still continuing his writing career, mainly writing two different series: the Alex Rider Series and The Gatekeepers/ The Power of Five Series.
INTERESTING FACTS
1)Anthony began writing because he wanted to be like Tintin. [ From the comic book The Adventures of Tintin ]
2)He has traveled to all the places in the Tintin books (except the moon).
3)Some settings in his books are based on where Anthony lived as a child.
4)He takes research for his books very seriously.
5)He got married in Hong Kong.
6)He spent a year working as a cowboy in Australia for fun
7)His passion is scuba-diving. He has dived all over the world.
8)He is a major film fan and goes to the cinema three or four times a week.
9)He is also a big fan of Alfred Hitchcock's mysteries.
10) His favorite band is Coldplay and he prefers classical music.