Click for Source Image By Samantha Payne
I have a lot of respect and not a small amount of good-natured jealously for this woman. Born in Kew, Melbourne in Australia, from a young age she was interested in the creative crafts of writing, art and music. Fascinating how a love for the creative side of life often begins during childhood. She obtained an Advanced Certificate in Promotional Display at the Melbourne College of Decoration after deciding to follow the career path to becoming a professional artist. This was where she also received an award for Highest Aggregate Mark in Art Subjects in 1988.
I have a lot of respect and not a small amount of good-natured jealously for this woman. Born in Kew, Melbourne in Australia, from a young age she was interested in the creative crafts of writing, art and music. Fascinating how a love for the creative side of life often begins during childhood. She obtained an Advanced Certificate in Promotional Display at the Melbourne College of Decoration after deciding to follow the career path to becoming a professional artist. This was where she also received an award for Highest Aggregate Mark in Art Subjects in 1988.
Click for Source Image Canavan created her own freelance business that specialised on graphical design services. It was called The Telltale Art, with a Poe reference in there too. Was itthe great Edgar Allan Poe that was one of Trudi’s inspirations for writing? In the same year of starting her delightfully named business, she began working for a magazine of Australian Fantasy and Science Fiction called Aurealis; the very same magazine she received her first award in writing. At the tender age of 25, Canavan decided to finally start making her dream of writing a novel a reality. She enrolled in several writing courses, refining her fiction writing skills, all the while fighting her way through rejections from various publishing companies.
She won her first award for writing in 1999 for her story titled ‘Whispers of the Mist Children’. This was the Aurealis Award for Best Short Story; only Australian citizens or permanent residents are eligible for this award. It was in November 2001, that her debut novel The Magician’s Guild was first published in her home country of Australia. The second instalment soon followed in June 2002, with the third and final book published in January 2003. All three of these impressive books were entered in the Australian top ten SF bestseller lists.
It was in 2004 that The Black Magician Trilogy, her debut trilogy, was published for the international market. The trilogy has become rated as the most successful debut fantasy series of the last 10 years by Nielsen BookScan. She now has three sets of trilogies and a standalone novel to her name; all but one trilogy is set in the world of Kyralia and its surrounding provinces. Her standalone novel, which is in fact a prequel to the events in her first trilogy, was published in 2009 and received another Aurealis Award for it; this time in the Best Fantasy Novel category.
Trudi is currently working on what will be her fourth trilogy, entitled Millennium’s Rule Trilogy. The first book of the trilogy was published early this year in May under the title Thief’s Magic. This is another trilogy that is not set in the same world as The Black Magician Trilogy, The Traitor Spy Trilogy and The Magician’s Apprentice. The Traitor Spy Trilogy is the direct sequel to her debut trilogy. This fourth trilogy seems to be up to the same standards as her previous works.
Her work is a delight to read. It’s so easy to become immersed in the world she has created with such care and loving detail. Not to mention her amazing gift at character creation, characters that make you care about what happens to them and enjoy watching them change from who they are in the beginning, to become the remarkable individuals they are at the close.
Trudi Canavan is a truly remarkable and inspiring author. Hopefully there will be more work from her in the future and if you haven’t read any of her work you should grab a copy of The Magician’s Guild and dive right into a world filled with good old fashioned magic.
She won her first award for writing in 1999 for her story titled ‘Whispers of the Mist Children’. This was the Aurealis Award for Best Short Story; only Australian citizens or permanent residents are eligible for this award. It was in November 2001, that her debut novel The Magician’s Guild was first published in her home country of Australia. The second instalment soon followed in June 2002, with the third and final book published in January 2003. All three of these impressive books were entered in the Australian top ten SF bestseller lists.
It was in 2004 that The Black Magician Trilogy, her debut trilogy, was published for the international market. The trilogy has become rated as the most successful debut fantasy series of the last 10 years by Nielsen BookScan. She now has three sets of trilogies and a standalone novel to her name; all but one trilogy is set in the world of Kyralia and its surrounding provinces. Her standalone novel, which is in fact a prequel to the events in her first trilogy, was published in 2009 and received another Aurealis Award for it; this time in the Best Fantasy Novel category.
Trudi is currently working on what will be her fourth trilogy, entitled Millennium’s Rule Trilogy. The first book of the trilogy was published early this year in May under the title Thief’s Magic. This is another trilogy that is not set in the same world as The Black Magician Trilogy, The Traitor Spy Trilogy and The Magician’s Apprentice. The Traitor Spy Trilogy is the direct sequel to her debut trilogy. This fourth trilogy seems to be up to the same standards as her previous works.
Her work is a delight to read. It’s so easy to become immersed in the world she has created with such care and loving detail. Not to mention her amazing gift at character creation, characters that make you care about what happens to them and enjoy watching them change from who they are in the beginning, to become the remarkable individuals they are at the close.
Trudi Canavan is a truly remarkable and inspiring author. Hopefully there will be more work from her in the future and if you haven’t read any of her work you should grab a copy of The Magician’s Guild and dive right into a world filled with good old fashioned magic.
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