Eoin Colfer

Eoin Colfer (born 14 May 1965) is an Irish author of children's books.

He worked as a primary school teacher before he became a full-time writer.

He is best known for being the author of the Artemis Fowl series.

He attained worldwide recognition in 2001, when the first Artemis Fowl book became a New York Times Best Seller.

Since then, several others of his works have become bestsellers as well.

Among his other popular works are Half Moon Investigations, The Wish List, The Supernaturalist, and a series of Eoin Colfer's Legends.

In September 2008, Colfer was commissioned to write the sixth installment of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, titled And Another Thing ..., which was published in October 2009.

In January 2008, Colfer published a book titled Airman, another best-seller.

To date, more than half of his books have reached the New York Times list at least once.

His books have also received many awards, including the British Children’s Book of the Year, The Irish Book Awards Children’s Book of the Year and The German Children’s Book of the Year.

Colfer contributed three volumes to this series of books by several writers, for very young readers.

Graphic novels are planned for every book in the series.

The first five novels in the Hitchhiker's "trilogy" were written by Douglas Adams.

Adams' widow, Jane Belson, and the literary agency that manages Adams' estate asked Colfer to write another book, as Adams had intended to add to the series, agreeing that the end to the fifth book was "very bleak".

Already a fan of the series, Colfer called the opportunity "like suddenly being offered the superpower of your choice ... For years I have been finishing this incredible story in my head and now I have the opportunity to do it in the real world ... It is a gift from the gods. So, thank you Thor and Odin."

He served as Laureate na nÓg (Ireland's Children's Laureate) between 2014 and 2016.

Eoin Colfer was born in Wexford, Ireland.

He graduated from Dublin University with a bachelor’s degree in Education.

Soon after graduating, Colfer spent four years working in Saudi Arabia, Italy and Tunisia.

His travels throughout Europe, as well as his Irish heritage, serve as a basis for many of his earlier stories.

In April 2014, principal photography began on a new Irish feature film Poison Pen, the first screenplay from Colfer.

The film, a romantic comedy, was filmed on location in Ireland over the next three weeks by the participants on the Filmbase/Staffordshire University MSc in Digital Feature Film Production.

The film premiered at the 26th Galway Film Fleadh on 11 July 2014.

The film is an eco-friendly production.

John Gormley, the former Green Party Minister, was appointed as a Green Production Manager for the production, with a view to minimising the carbon footprint and environmental impact of the film.

In 2015, it was announced that Colfer was working on an adult graphic novel called Illegal with Andrew Donkin and Giovanni Rigano, the team behind the Artemis Fowl graphic novels.

The same team released their second young adult graphic novel called Global on 11 April 2023.

On 1 September 2015, Variety reported that Kenneth Branagh had been hired to direct Artemis Fowl for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, with Irish playwright Conor McPherson as screenwriter and Judy Hofflund and Branagh as producers.

Colfer confirmed this in a video to Artemis Fowl Confidential, and spoke with RTE Radio 1 about meeting Branagh several times to discuss the film prior to the announcement.

In October 2016, in a contract with Marvel Comics, he released Iron Man: The Gauntlet.

The film was originally scheduled for release on 9 August 2019 but on 7 May 2019 it was delayed to 29 May 2020.

The film was pulled on 3 April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and debuted on Disney+ on 12 June 2020 instead of a theatrical release, to overwhelmingly negative reviews.