Garth Nix

Garth Nix (born 1963) is an Australian fantasy writer for young adults and children, best known for the Old Kingdom series that began with Sabriel (1995).

Nix was born in Melbourne on 19 July 1963 and grew up in Canberra, where he served in the Australian Army Reserve while at Dickson College. After working for the Australian government he studied professional writing at the University of Canberra, then worked in bookselling and publishing, including as a senior editor at HarperCollins, and in public relations for the information technology industry. He was a literary agent with Curtis Brown (Australia) from 1999 to 2002 before writing full time.

His first novel, the children's fantasy The Ragwitch, appeared in 1990. Sabriel, published by HarperCollins in Australia in 1995, won the Aurealis Awards for both best fantasy novel and best young-adult novel and was named an ALA Notable Book. The Old Kingdom continued with Lirael (2001), Abhorsen (2003), Clariel (2014), Goldenhand (2016) and Terciel and Elinor (2021). He also wrote Shade's Children (1997), the six-book Seventh Tower sequence (2000 to 2001) and the seven-book Keys to the Kingdom series, from Mister Monday (2003) to Lord Sunday (2010). He received the Medal of the Order of Australia in the 2025 King's Birthday Honours.

For collectors

Sabriel is the key title. It was first published in Australia by HarperCollins in 1995, so the Australian printing is the first edition. The Ragwitch (1990), his debut, is the other early book of interest.