Joe Abercrombie biography

Joe Abercrombie was born in the famous English town of Lancaster, England, on the 31st of December 1974. He was educated at Lancaster Royal Grammar School before studying Psychology at Manchester University. He then moved to London, finding work at a TV Post-Production company. Two years later he left to become a freelance film editor, and worked documentaries, awards shows, music videos, and concerts for artists ranging from Barry White to Coldplay.

In 2002 Joe Abercrombie began the writing of a fantasy trilogy based around the adventures of Logan Ninefingers. Completed with the help and the support of his family in 2004, and after initial rejections, The First Law trilogy (The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings) was taken onboard by Gillian Redfearn at Gollancz in 2005.

Joe now lives in North London with his wife, Lou, and his daughter, Grace. He splits his time between film editing and writing fantasy novels.

"I think the world of publishing, let alone genre publishing, is a great deal less glamorous than most people imagine. Of course the names that spring to mind are your Rowlings, Pullmans and Pratchetts, but they’re very much the exceptions. For your average sf/f release 5,000 sales might be considered a good run. Thanks to the fates, my excellent editor and publisher, and my family’s unstinting support, I’ve done a good deal better than that, and the trilogy has steadily gained ground with each book, but even so it’s only in the last year or so that I’ve even been able to consider writing as my main occupation, and I’m in a lucky minority to be able to do so."
Joe Abercrombie when interviewed by us in 2009

"Dark, deeply ironic and full of character gems that will appeal to your cynical side." SFRevu

"Delightfully twisted and evil" Guardian

November 15th 2012 interview with Joe Abercrombie

This week Josh interviews Joe Abercrombie, author of the highly acclaimed First Law trilogy. They talk about Joe's new book Red Country, darkness in modern fantasy, and what Joe is doing on tour in Australia.Photo by [...]

Read interview

March 6th 2009 interview with Joe Abercrombie

In 2002 Joe Abercrombie began the writing of a fantasy trilogy based around the adventures of Logan Ninefingers. The First Law trilogy (The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings) has since been published in eight countries, seven langu [...]

Read interview

All Joe Abercrombie Reviews