Anthony Horowitz facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Anthony Horowitz CBE
Horowitz in 2022
Born	Anthony John Horowitz (1955-04-05) 5 April 1955 (age 70) Stanmore, Middlesex, England
Occupation	Novelist, screenwriter, children's author & adult author
Alma mater	University of York
Genre	Adventure, mystery, thriller, horror, fantasy
Notable works	Alex Rider The Power of Five The Diamond Brothers Foyle's War The House of Silk Magpie Murders
Spouse	Jill Green ​ (m. 1988)​
Children	2

Anthony John Horowitz (born 5 April 1955) is a famous English writer. He writes exciting mystery and suspense stories. Many of his books are for children and young adults.

Some of his most popular books for young readers include the Alex Rider series. This series is about a 14-year-old British boy who becomes a spy. He also wrote The Power of Five series and The Diamond Brothers series.

Anthony Horowitz also writes books for adults. These include two Sherlock Holmes novels, The House of Silk and Moriarty. He has also written official James Bond novels. He even created and wrote the TV series Foyle's War.

Early life

Rugby School in Warwickshire

Anthony Horowitz was born in Stanmore, Middlesex, England. He grew up in a comfortable family. As a child, he loved going boating on the River Torridge with his nanny. He even had a stuffed monkey named Benjamin.

Horowitz went to Orley Farm School. He started writing stories when he was only eight or nine years old. He knew right away that he wanted to be a professional writer. He found comfort in books and telling stories. He said he was "quite certain" he would be a writer from a very young age.

At 13, he went to Rugby School, a well-known school in Rugby, Warwickshire. He later studied at the University of York. He graduated in 1977 with a degree in English literature and art history.

His mother helped him discover classic scary stories like Frankenstein and Dracula. For his 13th birthday, she gave him a human skull. Horowitz joked that it reminds him to finish his stories.

When Horowitz was 22, his father passed away from cancer. His family faced financial difficulties after his father's death. They had to sell their large family home.

Literary career

Early books (1979–1991)

Anthony Horowitz's first book was The Sinister Secret of Frederick K Bower. It was a funny adventure story for children, published in 1979. His second book, Misha, the Magician and the Mysterious Amulet, came out in 1981. After that, he moved to Paris to write his third book.

In 1983, he released The Devil's Door-Bell. This was the first book in his Pentagram series. It was about a 13-year-old boy named Martin Hopkins. He finds himself battling an ancient evil that threatens the world. Three more books followed: The Night of the Scorpion (1984), The Silver Citadel (1986), and Day of the Dragon (1986).

In 1985, he published Myths and Legends. This book was a collection of old tales from around the world. He also wrote scripts for the 1980s TV show Robin of Sherwood. He even wrote a book based on the show called The Hooded Man.

His book Groosham Grange was published in 1988. It was about a "witch" named David Eliot, who was the seventh son of a seventh son. This book won an award in 1989. Some people have noticed similarities between this book and the Harry Potter series.

A very important book in his early career was The Falcon's Malteser (1986). This was the first book in his popular Diamond Brothers series. It was followed by Public Enemy Number Two (1987) and South by South East (1991).

Children's fiction success (1992–1999)

Horowitz wrote many stand-alone novels in the 1990s. His 1994 book Granny was a funny thriller about an evil grandmother. It was the first of three books for a similar audience to Groosham Grange. The second was The Switch (1996), a story about two people swapping bodies. The third was The Devil and His Boy (1997). This book was set in the Elizabethan era. It explored a rumor about Queen Elizabeth I's secret son.

In 1999, The Unholy Grail was published. It was a sequel to Groosham Grange. It was later renamed Return to Groosham Grange in 2003. Horowitz later said he had plans for a third book but decided not to write it after the Harry Potter series became so popular. In the same year, Horowitz published Horowitz Horror (1999). This was a collection of short horror stories for children and young adults. It allowed him to explore a darker side of his writing.

Before the year 2000, Horowitz tried writing for adults with a novel called Poisoned Pen. This book was about a childhood friend of a modern-day William Shakespeare. In the story, Shakespeare is a Hollywood writer who is murdered. His friend tries to solve the mystery. This book has not been published in English.

Mainstream children's fiction success (2000–2010)

Horowitz started his most famous series, Alex Rider, in the year 2000. These books are about a 14-year-old boy who becomes a spy for the British Secret Service, MI6. As of 2024, there are eleven books where Alex Rider is the main character. These include Stormbreaker (2000), Point Blanc (2001), Skeleton Key (2002), Eagle Strike (2003), and Scorpia (2004). Other books are Ark Angel (2005), Snakehead (2007), Crocodile Tears (2009), and Scorpia Rising (2011). He also wrote Russian Roulette (2013), which is about another character. Horowitz has continued the series with Never Say Die (2017), Nightshade (2020), and Nightshade Revenge (2023).

In 2003, Horowitz also wrote three shorter books about the Diamond Brothers. These were The Blurred Man, The French Confection, and I Know What You Did Last Wednesday. They were later put together in one book called Three of Diamonds (2004). A new Diamond Brothers story, The Greek who Stole Christmas!, came out in 2007. The latest novel in the series is Where Seagulls Dare, published in 2022. All profits from this book went to support the NHS.

Horowitz also published two more collections of short horror stories. These were More Horowitz Horror (2000) and More Bloody Horowitz (2009). Some of these stories were later re-released in smaller books. One story, The Man Who Killed Darren Shan, was a funny revenge story. It was written after a joke dispute with fellow author Darren Shan.

In 2004, Horowitz tried writing for adults again with The Killing Joke. This was a comedy about a man trying to find the origin of a joke. In 2005, Horowitz returned to young adult fiction. He released Raven's Gate, which started his second successful series, The Power of Five. This series is based on his earlier Pentagram novels. The second book, Evil Star, came out in 2006. The third, Nightrise, was released in 2007. The fourth book, Necropolis, came out in 2008. The fifth and final book, Oblivion, was released in 2012. Horowitz describes this series as "Alex Rider with devils and witches."

In October 2008, Anthony Horowitz's play Mindgame opened in New York City.

Continued success (2011–present)

On 19 January 2011, the people who manage Arthur Conan Doyle's work chose Horowitz to write a new Sherlock Holmes novel. This was the first time they officially approved a new Sherlock Holmes story. The book was called The House of Silk and was published in November 2011. A second Sherlock Holmes novel, Moriarty, was published in 2014.

In October 2014, the family of James Bond creator Ian Fleming asked Horowitz to write a James Bond novel. Trigger Mortis was released in 2015. A second novel, Forever and A Day, came out on 31 May 2018. A third novel, With a Mind to Kill, was released on 17 May 2022. Horowitz is the only author recently asked to write several official James Bond novels.

In 2016, Horowitz's adult novel Magpie Murders was published. He had talked about this book since 2005. It was about a mystery writer who is murdered while writing his latest mystery. A follow-up novel, Moonflower Murders, was released in 2020. A third book in the series, Marble Hall Murders, is expected in April 2025.

In 2017, Horowitz started a new detective series. In these books, a fictional version of himself helps a detective named Hawthorne solve crimes. The fictional Horowitz writes books about Hawthorne's cases. So far, five books in this series have been published, starting with The Word is Murder.

In 2011, Horowitz mentioned plans for a new trilogy for young readers. He said it would be a "completely new genre" and set in modern-day London. The main character would be 15 years old. He called it The Machine. However, in 2021, Horowitz said he had not started writing this series yet. He also said he had no immediate plans to do so.

Film and television career

Film

Horowitz wrote the movie script for Just Ask for Diamond (1989). This film was based on his Diamond Brothers novel The Falcon's Malteser.

He also wrote the script for the movie The Gathering, which came out in 2003. It starred Christina Ricci.

Horowitz wrote the screenplay for the first Alex Rider movie, Stormbreaker.

Television

Horowitz started writing for television in the 1980s. He wrote for children's shows like Dramarama. He also wrote five episodes for the fantasy series Robin of Sherwood. He even wrote a book based on these episodes.

He created Crossbow (1987). This was an action-adventure series loosely based on William Tell. During this time, he also wrote Adventurer (1987) and Starting Out (1990).

His work on murder mysteries began with adapting several Hercule Poirot stories. These were for ITV's popular Agatha Christie's Poirot series in the 1990s. His work often has a funny side. Examples include the comedy murder show Murder Most Horrid (1991).

In 1991, The Diamond Brothers was broadcast on ITV. This was a six-part TV series written and directed by Horowitz himself. It was based on his book South by South East.

From 1997, he wrote most of the early episodes of Midsomer Murders. In 2001, he created his own drama series for the BBC, Murder in Mind. This show had a different murder and characters in each episode.

He also created two short-lived science-fiction shows. These were Crime Traveller (1997) for BBC One and The Vanishing Man (1998) for ITV. Crime Traveller had good viewership but was not renewed.

In 2002, Horowitz created the series Foyle's War. This was a detective series set during and after World War II. It became his longest-running TV project. It had 28 episodes over eight series, ending in 2015.

Horowitz also created the 2009 ITV crime drama Collision. He co-wrote the script for it.

He adapted his novel Magpie Murders into a TV miniseries. It aired on BritBox and later BBC One in the UK. It also aired on PBS in the US.

Filming began in spring 2024 for his new TV series, Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue.

Personal life

Horowitz lives in Central London with his wife, Jill Green. They got married in Hong Kong on 15 April 1988. Jill Green produced Foyle's War and other TV shows he wrote. They have two sons.

Horowitz says his family helps him a lot with ideas and research for his writing. He supports charities that help families and protect children.

He has described himself as "vaguely conservative" in politics. He has also spoken about his concerns regarding "cancel culture". He believes people should be able to express different opinions without facing extreme reactions.

Honours and awards

Horowitz has received several awards for his contributions to literature. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2014. He was then made Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2022.

He won an Edgar Allan Poe Award for the first episode of Magpie Murders. In 2003, he won the Hampshire Book Award for Skeleton Key, part of the Alex Rider series. He also won Lancashire Book of the Year in 2006.

For Foyle's War, he won a BAFTA Lew Grade Award in 2003. He was also nominated for other awards for the show. For Stormbreaker, he received several awards. These include the California Young Reader Medal (2005) and the Iowa Teen Award (2005). He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2018.

Filmography

Film writer

• Just Ask for Diamond (1988)
• The Gathering (2003)
• Stormbreaker (2006) (Also executive producer)

TV series

Miniseries

Theatre

See also

In Spanish: Anthony Horowitz para niños