Simon Higgins is an Australian screenwriter and author of books for young adults, born in 1958 in England. He arrived in Australia in 1963 after first living in

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, Africa.

Career

Originally a police officer then private investigator in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, South Australia, working predominantly on homicide cases, he turned to writing in 1998. To date he has had 12 novels published, often combining the crime, speculative fiction and historical adventure genres. His works have been divided between Random House, the Hachette Group and Pulp Fiction Press. His short stories have also been published by Pan Macmillan/Ford Street Publishing. His debut novel, ''Doctor Id'', published in Australia 1998, subsequently released in Italy and serialised in Japan, was listed as a 1999 Notable Book of the Year by the Children's Book Council of Australia. Higgins’ second novel, ''Thunderfish'' was also listed as a 2000 Notable Book by the CBCA. One of the sequels to ''Thunderfish'', titled ''Under No Flag'', was shortlisted for a Ned Kelly Crime Writing Award in 2002. In 2007 Higgins won a Fellowship of Australian Writers (FAW) National Literary Award for an unpublished novel about historical Asia. Higgins trained and competed in Japan in the traditional sword art of Iaido, and placed fifth in Iaido's world titles in Kyoto in 2008 He has stated that this personal immersion in traditional Asian warrior culture and discipline inspired his most successful novels, which featured

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

and

ninja A , or was a spy and infiltrator in pre-modern Japan. The functions of a ninja included siege and infiltration, ambush, reconnaissance, espionage, deception, and later bodyguarding.Kawakami, pp. 21–22 Antecedents may have existed as ear ...

. His 2008 novel, ''Moonshadow: Eye of the Beast'', was an Australian bestseller, was shortlisted for the 2008 Aurealis Fantasy Award and subsequently published in the United States, Germany, Indonesia and England. As a result, Higgins was invited to appear on Australia's highest rating children's TV show, Saturday Disney, to discuss the book and demonstrate swordplay. Higgins has written short stories for several anthologies, in the horror, science fiction and historical adventure genres. He has also authored numerous articles on the craft of writing and creative brainstorming. A prolific public speaker and teacher of creative writing, he is known for incorporating martial arts demonstrations into his presentations to middle school, high school and university-level writing students in Australia, England and Asia. Higgins has been repeatedly noted in teaching journals and the Australian media for his efforts to ‘masculinise reading’. In 2010, in recognition of his efforts to promote greater understanding of Asian cultures, Higgins was invited by the Australian government's Asia Education Foundation to become an Ambassador for Asia Literacy. His novel, ''Moonshadow: Eye of the Beast'', was subsequently made a recommended school curriculum text by the Asia Education Foundation. In 2013 Higgins received an Australian Government Endeavour Executive Fellowship Award to live and study ‘Screenwriting for Film & TV Animation’ in China. This led to his ongoing creative collaboration with Crane Animation, based in Guilin, China, first in the role of creative consultant, then as a screenwriter for their award-winning series Gemini Fables and as coach of the company's in-house writing team.

References

External links

*
Random House websiteHachette Book Group website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higgins, Simon Living people 1968 births 20th-century Australian novelists 21st-century Australian novelists Australian male novelists Australian children's writers Australian screenwriters Australian male short story writers 20th-century Australian short story writers 21st-century Australian short story writers 20th-century Australian male writers 21st-century Australian male writers