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Derek Landy
Landy in Edinburgh, August 2011
Landy in Edinburgh, August 2011
Born (1974-10-23) 23 October 1974 (age 50)
Lusk, County Dublin, Ireland
Nationality Irish
Genre Children's fantasy
Notable works Skulduggery Pleasant and Demon Road series
Notable awards Red House Children's Book Award
2008 Skulduggery Pleasant

Derek Landy was born on October 23, 1974. He is an Irish author and a writer for movies. He is most famous for his exciting book series, Skulduggery Pleasant and Demon Road. Since 2018, he has also written many comic book stories for Marvel Comics.

Derek's Writing Career

Writing for Movies

Derek Landy has written two movie scripts that were made into films. One film, called Dead Bodies, won an award. The other, Boy Eats Girl, was nominated for an award. Derek himself was also nominated for an award for his writing!

He found writing for movies a bit tricky because many people had to work together. So, he decided to focus on writing books instead.

The Skulduggery Pleasant Series

Derek Landy started writing the Skulduggery Pleasant series. The first book was also called Skulduggery Pleasant. A company called HarperCollins published the book. This series became very popular!

It grew into a nine-book series. Then, a second series of six more books was written. There's also a spin-off book and a prequel story. A third series of three books is currently being planned.

Movie Plans for Skulduggery Pleasant

In 2007, a big movie company, Warner Bros., bought the rights to make the Skulduggery Pleasant series into a movie. Derek wanted to write the movie script himself. However, his script kept getting changed.

Derek was not happy with the changes. So, he bought the rights back! He then sold the rights to another company, but that didn't work out. He tried working with another company, but that also stopped. As of 2020, he was still working on a movie version with a new company.

Other Writing Projects

Derek Landy is a big fan of writer Joss Whedon, especially his show Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He also likes Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials books. Other shows he enjoys are Gilmore Girls and Doctor Who.

He even wrote a short story for Doctor Who! It was about the Tenth Doctor and was part of a collection celebrating the show's 50th anniversary. The story was called "The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage" and came out in 2013. Because of this, Derek was asked to write an episode for a Doctor Who spin-off show called Class. Sadly, the show was cancelled before his episode could be made.

About Derek's Life

Derek Landy went to Drogheda Grammar School when he was a child. Later, he studied animation at Ballyfermot College. He is also very good at kenpo karate and has a black belt!

Before he became a famous author, he worked on his parents' vegetable farm. Since 2016, he has been dating Laura Jordan, who is also a writer. They live together in Rush, Dublin, Ireland.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Derek Landy para niños

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