Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Horowitz, OBEis an English novelist and screenwriter specialising in mystery and suspense. His work for young adult readers includes The Diamond Brothers series, the Alex Rider series, and The Power of Five series. His work for adults includes the novel and play Mindgame, and two Sherlock Holmes novels The House of Silkand Moriarty. He is the most recent author chosen to write a James Bond novel by the Ian Fleming estate, titled Trigger Mortis...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth5 April 1955
CityLondon, England
A children's author on a soapbox is not a pleasant sight but I have become drawn into issues, slightly unwillingly, relating to young people, literacy and youth justice: just look at the number of young people we have locked up in prison, and the uselessness of it.
You're trying to tell me that everything you've done is for a good cause. You think that all this killing is worth it because of the results. I'm not sure I agree. Lots of people work for charity; lots of people want to change the world. But they don't have to behave like you.
But then, he thought, most politicians are small and shabby, the sort of people who have been bullied at school. That's why they become politicians.
Look at self-satisfied pop singers or greasy, semi-literate athletes. People worship them. Why?” "Because they’re talented.
When you are rich, people treat you with respect.
Once you get into the world of dystopia, it's hard to avoid plagiarism, because other people have had such powerful visions.
There's a name for people with an interest in the moon," Alex said. "They're called lunatics.
I believe that, by and large, people are good and everybody you meet is more likely to surprise you in a positive way than in a negative way.
I fear dying in the middle of a book. It would be so annoying to write 80,000 words and not get to the end. I'm phobic about it. So when I'm writing a book I leave messages all over the house for people to know how the story ends, and then someone can finish it for me.
I start work at 7 A.M. and write all day, seven days a week. If I don't write, I can't sleep.
I have a great belief in not doing anything unless I'm passionate about it.
I feel very privileged to have reached so many kids because a life without stories, without the power of books, would be a very grey world, it's good to add colour.
I'm not happy unless I have a pen in my hand, it's really that simple.
If you look at Charles Dickens's time, there were so many different levels of society and everybody understood their place in it, it was that complex and simple. I'm not sure we have that now.