Joel Shepherd biography

Joel Shepherd was born in Adelaide, South Australia, in 1974, but when he was seven his family moved to Perth in Western Australia. He studied film and television at Curtin University but realised that what he really wanted to do was write stories. His first manuscript was shortlist for the George Turner Prize in 1998, and Crossover was shortlisted in 1999. He wrote two other novels in the Crossover series, Breakaway (2003) and Killswitch (2004).

Apart from writing, Joel helps in his mother's business, selling Australian books to international schools in Asia and beyond. This has given him the opportunity to travel widely in asia and other parts of the world. Joel also writes about women's basketball for an American internet magazine.

Crossover was Joel's first published book.

"There's lots of people I admire, but I don't really like listing them because lists just feel too forced and artificial. And I admire lots of writing that isn't fiction, too, like current-affairs columnists... I get inspiration from lots of places, TV and movies too. But I will say that CJ Cherryh was a big influence on me growing up, she was the first writer who demonstrated to me that head-burstlingly intelligent, and wickedly entertaining, were not mutually exclusive concepts."
During an interview with SFFWorld.com 

May 14th 2012 interview with Joel Shepherd

Joel Shepherd was born in Adelaide, South Australia, in 1974. He studied film and television at Curtin University but realised that what he really wanted to do was write stories. His first manuscript was shortlist for the George Turner Prize in 1998. Joel spoke to Joshua S Hill in May 2012. [...]

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June 24th 2018 interview with Joel Shepherd

It's been 6 years since we last spoke - an interview we did back in May of 2012 (found here).What have you been up to since you finished writing A Trial of Blood and Steel?I've wr [...]

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All Joel Shepherd Reviews