Trudi Canavan (born 23 October 1969) is an Australian writer of fantasy novels, best known for her best-selling fantasy trilogies '' The Black Magician'' and '' Age of the Five''. While establishing her writing career she worked as a

graphic designer A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming ...

. She completed her third trilogy, ''The Traitor Spy'' trilogy, in August 2012 with '' The Traitor Queen''. Subsequently, Canavan has written a series called '' Millennium's Rule'', with a completely new setting consisting of multiple worlds which characters can cross between. Though originally planned as a trilogy, a fourth and final book in the ''Millennium's Rule'' series was published.Maker's Curse: Book Four of Millennium's Rule
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Biography

Canavan was born in

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is ...

, in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia and grew up in the suburb of

Ferntree Gully Ferntree Gully is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, at the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges, 30 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Knox local government area. Ferntree Gully recorded a p ...

. From early in her childhood she was creative and interested in art, writing and music. After deciding to become a professional artist she completed an Advanced Certificate in Promotional Display at the Melbourne College of Decoration, where she received an award for Highest Aggregate Mark in Art Subjects in 1988.Trudi Canavan: About Trudi
In 1995 Canavan started ''The Telltale Art'', a freelance business specialising on graphical design services. In that same year she began working for '' Aurealis'', a magazine of Australian Fantasy and Science Fiction, working a do-it-all job as art and cover editor, reading manuscripts, creating web pages and stuffing envelopes. By taking on this job she was able to start writing in her spare time. Canavan states that until the age of 25 she dreamed of writing a novel but lacked the focus to do so. When she turned 25 she took several writing courses, worked on refining her fiction writing skills, while she fought her way through several rejections.Trudi Canavan: About Writing
In 1999, Canavan's writing career took off when she won the

Aurealis Award The Aurealis Award for Excellence in Speculative Fiction is an annual literary award for Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction. Only Australians are eligible for the award. History The Aurealis Award was established in 1995 by ...

for Best Fantasy Short Story with '' Whispers of the Mist Children''. In 2001, she further established herself with '' The Magicians' Guild'', centring on Sonea, a slum child who is hunted for her rogue magic. The novel, which was the first of three books of '' The Black Magician Trilogy'', brought her widespread acclaim, and the second book of the trilogy, ''The Novice'' (2002), was nominated for the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel. The third book, ''The High Lord'', was released in December 2002 and was nominated for the Best Novel Ditmar category. All three books entered Australian top ten SF best-seller lists. The trilogy is now rated by

Nielsen BookScan BookScan is a data provider for the book publishing industry that compiles point of sale data for book sales, owned by Circana in the United States and NIQ in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Italy, Spain ...

as the most successful debut fantasy series of the last 10 years, and in 2006 had sold over 275,000 copies in all editions. The trilogy has been translated into German, Dutch, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Czech, Danish, Spanish and French.Trudi Canavan: About Trudi's Books
Canavan's second trilogy, '' Age of the Five'', was also well received by her readers. The first in the series, '' Priestess of the White'' reached No.3 in the Sunday Times hardback fiction best-seller list, staying in the top ten for 6 weeks. In early 2006, Canavan signed a seven-figure contract with Orbit to write the prequel and sequel to The Black Magician Trilogy. This book, '' The Magician's Apprentice'', was released in February 2009. Canavan's third trilogy, '' The Traitor Spy trilogy'', is a sequel to the Black Magician Trilogy. The first book, '' The Ambassador's Mission'', was published on 6 May 2010. The trilogy was completed in 2012.

On writing

Canavan states that "the best way to improve your writing is to write. A lot." In the "FAQ" section of her web page, she says that she does not specifically base her characters on herself or anybody else in real life. Asked about her habit of inventing new names for staples of real-world life (e.g. "bol" for spirits, "ceryni" for rat), she explains that the animals that inhabit her world are not the same as those of ours, but are bound to be similar when filling the same ecological niches as real world animals.Trudi Canavan: About Writing
In contrast to other fantasy/science fiction authors, Canavan is also appreciative of

fan fiction Fan fiction or fanfiction, also known as fan fic, fanfic, fic or FF, is fiction typically written in an amateur capacity by fans as a form of fan labor, unauthorized by, but based on, an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted ...

.Trudi Canavan: Fan Fiction
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Awards

* Canavan's artwork in '' Aurealis'' and ''

Eidolon In ancient Greek literature, an eidolon (; 'image, idol, double, apparition, phantom, ghost'; plural: eidola or eidolons) is a spirit-image of a living or dead person; a shade or phantom look-alike of the human form. In the Homeric epic, it ...

'' – Australian science fiction and fantasy magazines – was nominated for a

Ditmar Award The Ditmar Award (formally the Australian SF ("Ditmar") Award; formerly the "Australian Science Fiction Achievement Award") has been awarded annually since 1969 at the Australian National Science Fiction Convention (the "Natcon") to recognise ...

for "Best Professional Artwork" in 1996. * "Whispers of the Mist Children" won an

for "Best Fantasy Short Story" of 1999. * ''The Novice'' was shortlisted for an Aurealis Award for "Best Fantasy Novel" of 2002. * At the 2003 Ditmars, Canavan won the "Best Short Story" award with "Room for Improvement", published in '' Foreign Shores''; ''The High Lord'' was nominated for "Best Novel" and her cover for '' Fables & Reflections 5'' was nominated for the "Best Professional Artwork" award. *''The Magician's Apprentice'' (AUS / UK / US) has won the 2009 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel.

Bibliography

Kyralia series

*'' The Magician's Apprentice'' (2009) (prequel stand-alone novel to the Black Magician Trilogy) *The Black Magician Trilogy :*'' The Magicians' Guild'' (2001) :*''The Novice'' (2002) :*''The High Lord'' (2003) *The Traitor Spy Trilogy (sequel to the Black Magician Trilogy) :*''The Ambassador's Mission'' (2010) :*''The Rogue'' (2011)http://www.trudicanavan.com/books/ About Trudi's books (accessed 20 May 2010) :*''The Traitor Queen'' (2012)

Ithania series

* The Age of the Five Trilogy :*''Priestess of the White'' (2005) :*''Last of the Wilds'' (2006) :*''Voice of the Gods'' (2006)

Millennium's Rule

*Millennium's Rule Series :*''Thief's Magic'' (2014) :*''Angel of Storms'' (2015) :*''Successor's Promise'' (2017) :*''Maker's Curse'' (2020)

Short stories

* " Whispers of the Mist Children" (1999) in '' Aurealis'' No. 23 (ed. Dirk Strasser, Stephen Higgins) * "Room for Improvement" * "The Mad Apprentice" * "Doctor Who: Salt of the Earth (Time Trips)" * "Camp Followers" in Fearsome Journeys

References

External links

Official website
*
Bibliography
at SciFan

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canavan, Trudi 1969 births Living people 21st-century Australian novelists Australian fantasy writers Australian people of Irish descent Australian women short story writers Australian women novelists Australian women science fiction and fantasy writers Australian science fiction writers People from Ferntree Gully, Victoria Writers from Melbourne Artists from Melbourne