Derek Landy was born in 1973 in Lusk, Dublin, Ireland. He began his writing career as a screenwriter. Two of his screenplays have been made into films, one of which, Dead Bodies, won the Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTA). Landy is the author of the best-selling Skulduggery Pleasant series. His first book in the series, Scepter of the Ancients, was named a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, and appeared on the Oprah's Book Club Kids Reading List. Landy lives in Ireland.