Matthew J. Kirby is an American author of

middle grade Middle grade literature is literature intended for children between the ages of 8 and 12. While these books are sometimes grouped together with books for other age bands and collectively called "children's books", middle grade is distinct from pict ...

and

young adult In medicine and the social sciences, a young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence, sometimes with some overlap. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages ...

children's books.

Life

Kirby was born in

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. As the son of a naval officer, he had the opportunity to live in various parts of the country, including Maryland, California, and Hawaii. As a pre-teen, he was given a set of

Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin ( ; Kroeber; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author. She is best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the ''Earthsea'' fantas ...

's ''

Earthsea ''The Earthsea Cycle'', also known as ''Earthsea'', is a series of high fantasy books written by American author Ursula K. Le Guin. Beginning with '' A Wizard of Earthsea'' (1968), '' The Tombs of Atuan'', (1970) and '' The Farthest Shore'' (1 ...

'' books. As he read a particular passage, he was struck by her use of language and knew he wanted to become a writer. He earned his bachelor's degree in history at

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public university, public land grant colleges, land-grant research university with its main campus in Logan, Utah, United States. Founded in 1888 under the Morrill Land-Grant Acts as Utah's federal ...

and went on to earn his master's degree in school counselling. His early writing endeavors were more tailored to adults in the form of poetry and short fiction, but he eventually settled into writing for young people as he discovered many of his ideas were more "suited for a younger audience." In 2010, his first book, ''

The Clockwork Three ''The Clockwork Three'' is a 2010 novel by American author Matthew J. Kirby. Set in a fictional coastal city in the late nineteenth century, it follows three children: Giuseppe, Hannah, and Frederick who work to solve each other's problems. Ori ...

'', was published by

Scholastic Press Scholastic Corporation is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, teachers, parents, children, and other educational institutions. P ...

. It was a children's historical fantasy set in a fictional American city in the late 19th century. His second book, ''Icefall'', about a Viking princess, won the 2012

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards hon ...

for Juvenile Fiction. He currently lives near

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt ...

with his partner Jaimes.

Works

Novels

* ''

'' (2010) * ''

Icefall An icefall is a portion of certain glaciers characterized by relatively rapid flow and chaotic crevassed surface, caused in part by gravity. The term ''icefall'' is formed by analogy with the word ''waterfall'', which is a similar phenomenon of ...

'' (2011) *

Infinity Ring The ''Infinity Ring'' is a series of young adult science fiction adventure novels written by multiple authors, including James Dashner, Lisa McMann, Matt de la Peña, Matthew J. Kirby, and Jennifer A. Nielsen, in a similar fashion to ''The 39 ...

: Book 5: ''Cave of Wonders'' (2013) * ''The Lost Kingdom'' (2013) * The Quantum League: ''Spell Robbers'' (2014) * The Dark Gravity Sequence, Book 1: ''The Arctic Code'' (2015) * The Dark Gravity Sequence, Book 2: ''Island of the Sun'' (2016) * The Dark Gravity Sequence, Book 3: ''The Rogue World'' (2017) * '' Last Descendants'' (September 2016) * ''A Taste For Monsters'' (September 2016) * ''Last Descendants, Book 2: Tomb of the Khan'' (2016) * ''Last Descendants; Book 3: Fate of the Gods'' (2017) * ''Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Geirmund's Saga'' (2020) * ''Star Splitter'' (2023)

Poetry

* "In Their Element" (as M.J. Kirby) (2005)

Short fiction

* "Letters on Natural Magic" (2007)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirby, Matthew J. American male writers Living people American children's writers Edgar Award winners Year of birth missing (living people)