Trudi Canavan biography

Trudi Canavan was born on the 23rd October 1969 in Melbourne, Australia. She won the Aurealis Award for her fantasy short story Whispers of the Mist Children in 1999 and has never looked back. In 2001 she further established herself as a fantasy writer of rare talent with The Magician's Guild, the first book in a trilogy which included The Novice and The High Lord.

Fantasy Book Reviewer Joshua S Hill interviewed Trudi Canavan in August 2009

The inspiration behind The Black Magician Trilogy came when Trudi Canavan read of the homeless people of Barcelona being rounded up and moved out of the city shortly before the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.

She believes that the major factors that can help an author to become successful lie in reading and writing a lot. A love for writing is also important as many writer will not earn much from their chosen career. She also believes that learning how the book industry works is extremely important as the industry itself will help an author more if they show understanding of the difficulties that other sectors of the book industry face.

As Canavan began writing a new trilogy called the Age of Five she decided to enlarge the fantasy world and feature more characters. She found that doubling the characters meant double the work but also found the process to be a lot of fun.

Trudi Canavan is not a religious person and as such the Black Magician Trilogy was set in a nonreligious world. However, the Age of Five did feature a pantheon of gods.

Trudi Canavan books

• The Magicians' Guild (2004)
• The Novice (2004)
• The High Lord (2004)
• Priestess of the White (2006)
• Last of the Wilds (2006)
• Voice of the Gods (2007)
• The Traitor Queen (2007)
• The Magician's Apprentice (2009)

Trudi Canavan interviews

An interview with Trudi Canavan in August 2006 where she talks about the inspirations behind her writing, her love of painting and the work she currently had underway. Trudi Canavan interview with scifi.uk.com in 2006 >>

Orbit Books interviewed Trudi Canavan shortly after Voice of Gods was published. Orbit Books interview with Trudi Canavan >>

Latest news: Trudi Canavan

Latest reviews: Ambassador’s Mission, Curse of Chalion, Night Watch and more
Here is a round-up of the latest books to be read and reviewed on Fantasy Book Review, with links to the full review itself. Coming soon: The Radleys by Matt Haig, Fire in the East by Harry Sidebottom, The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell and Revise the World by Brenda Clough. The Ambassador’s [...]

The Use of Language in Fantasy Novels
I sat down last night and picked up ‘The Blood Knight’, the third in Greg Keyes’ The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone series. I finished the second book, ‘The Charnel Prince’ maybe a month or two ago and promptly found myself without the third (and fourth) to continue on with. The order from a certain onl [...]

Check Out Trudi Canavan’s New Website
A favourite author of mine and multiple award winner Trudi Canavan has a new website that you must check out. In addition to advice for writers, information on past, current and future books, and a “report a typo” section where readers can report grammatical errors in Trudi’s books, you can also rea [...]

Charlotte Naylor joins John Jarrold Literary Agency
John Jarrold’s latest client is British fantasy writer Charlotte Naylor, who is planning a fantasy series that will appeal to readers of Trudi Canavan, Kristin Cashore and Maria V Snyder, opening with The Lady of Eslaya. ‘When I read the opening chapters, I was entranced by the immediacy and fluenc [...]

Trudi Canavan wins Aurealis Award
Trudi Canavan has been awarded the 2009 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel for her 2009 novel The Magician’s Apprentice. Released in 2009 it was a prequel to her Black Magician Trilogy, a trilogy that also saw her nominated for Best Fantasy Novel in 2002 for the second novel, The Novice. The A [...]

Trudi Canavan interview (August 2009)
By Joshua S Hill It has become quite apparent to me that Australia is producing more and more of fantasy’s best writers. Thankfully for me, they are also some of the nicest people around, and one of the best, Trudi Canavan, was happy enough to sit down with me a few weeks ago. Funnily enough, [...]

Fantasy Book Review: The High Lord by Trudi Canavan
Review by Joshua S Hill In reading an increasing amount of fantasy books over the past few years, I have found myself continually looking for “that” book that makes me feel something. The first time it happened was with Lord of the Rings, followed a year or so later by Robin Hobb’s trilogy of trilo [...]

Fantasy Book Review: The Novice by Trudi Canavan
Review by Joshua S Hill The second book in Trudi Canavan’s The Black Magician trilogy continues on from the first flawlessly, almost as if there should not have been a break. Sonea has decided that staying at the Guild is in the best interests of all she cares about, and is not entirely as distrust [...]

Fantasy Book Review: The Magician’s Apprentice by Trudi Canavan
Review by Joshua S Hill I find myself more and more encountering books to review that are invariably part of a series. Whether it be a trilogy or a Feist-ian epic, it varies. The point remains, I find myself suckered into reading all the books… … From the end of the first third of the book, right [...]

The Magician's Apprentice coming in February 2009
Trudi Canavan’s world of fantasy has become an international phenomenon, with close to one million readers worldwide. In February, Orbit will release The Magician’s Apprentice, the prequel to her wildly popular Black Magician Trilogy, and a gateway to an even wider readership within the U.S. In The [...]