- Conn Iggulden
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Conn Iggulden Born 1971 Occupation Author Nationality British Period Since 2003 Genres Mainly Historical fiction Notable work(s) Dangerous Book For Boys Series, Conqueror Series, Emperor Series
conniggulden.comConn Iggulden /ˈɪɡəldɛn/ (born 1971) is a British author who mainly writes historical fiction. He also co-authored The Dangerous Book for Boys.
Contents
Background
Born in 1971 to an English father and Irish mother (whose grandfather was a seanchaí), he attended St. Martins School in Northwood before moving on to Merchant Taylors' School. He studied English at the University of London, and went on to teach the subject for seven years, becoming head of the English department at St Gregory's Roman Catholic School in London, where one of his students was Fearne Cotton. He eventually left teaching to write his first novel, The Gates of Rome. He is married, has three children and lives in Hertfordshire, England.[1]
Career
Historical fiction
Iggulden's debut book was The Gates of Rome, the first in a four-part series entitled Emperor. The series is based around the life of Julius Caesar, from childhood (The Gates of Rome) to his eventual betrayal and death (The Gods of War). The film option has been sold to Spitfire Productions (an Intermedia company).
The author has indicated that in the future he will write a fifth book that deals with the events after the end of The Gods of War. He mentions it on his website 'projects'.
After completing the fourth book in the Emperor series, Iggulden began research for his next series of books, the Conqueror series, based on the life of Mongol warlords Genghis, Ogedai and Kublai Khan. His first book was available from 2007. Bones of the Hills , the third in the series, was released on 1 September 2008. In September 2010 Empire of Silver was released, which revolves around the life of Genghis Khan's son, Ogedai. Whilst Iggulden had initially confirmed on his official website that he would be writing two more books after Empire of Silver on Kublai Khan, the author's note at the end of Conqueror states that it would be the last in the series. Iggulden explains his desire to leave the character when he still had much left to accomplish, rather than tracing him through to his eventual downfall, as he did with Julius Caesar and Genghis Khan.
Iggulden has previously stated that he will write one more Emperor book, this time based on Augustus.
Children's books
Iggulden co-wrote a book with his brother Hal, The Dangerous Book for Boys. It covers around eighty topics, from building a soapbox racer and tying knots, to learning about famous battles and how to make potassium aluminium sulphate crystals.[2] It was released in the UK in June 2006, reprinted a month later and was voted British Book of the Year at the Galaxy British Book Awards.
On September 2009 he wrote a children's book Tollins: Explosive Tales for Children through HarperCollins. Iggulden has since written three stories to accompany the story of the Tollins.[3]
Other works
In March 2006, Iggulden released a novelette entitled Blackwater, part of the Quick Reads initiative of World Book Day 2006. Being a thriller, Blackwater was a change in genre for Iggulden who had mainly written historical fiction.
Bibliography
Emperor series
- The Gates of Rome (2003)
- The Death of Kings (2004)
- The Field of Swords (2005)
- The Gods of War (2006)
- 1 untitled fifth book (TBA)
Conqueror series
- Wolf of the Plains (2007, ISBN 978-0007201754) (titled Genghis: Birth of an Empire in North America, 2010, ISBN 978-0385344210)
- Lords of the Bow (2008, ISBN 978-0007201778) (titled Genghis: Lords of the Bow in North America, 2010, ISBN 978-0385342797)
- Bones of the Hills (2008, ISBN 978-0007201792) (titled Genghis: Bones of the Hills in North America, 2010, ISBN 978-0385342803)
- Empire of Silver (2010, ISBN 978-0007288007) (titled Khan: Empire of Silver in North America, 2010, ISBN 978-0385339544)
- Conqueror (2011)
Dangerous books
- The Dangerous Book for Boys (2007) (with Hal Iggulden)
- The Pocket Dangerous Book for Boys: Things to Do (2007) (with Hal Iggulden)
- The Dangerous Book for Boys Yearbook (2007) (with Hal Iggulden)
- The Pocket Dangerous Book for Boys: Things to Know (2008) (with Hal Iggulden)
- The Pocket Dangerous Book for Boys: Wonders of the World (2008) (with Hal Iggulden)
- The Pocket Dangerous Book for Boys: Facts, Figures and Fun (2008) (with Hal Iggulden)
- The Dangerous Book of Heroes (2009) (with David Iggulden)
Other
- Blackwater (2006)
- Tollins: Explosive Tales for Children (September 2009)
- How to Blow Up Tollins (with Lizzy Duncan) (October 2010)
References
- ^ "About Conn Iggulden". http://www.conniggulden.com/?page_id=2. Retrieved 2009-08-26.
- ^ http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=720923
- ^ http://www.savethetollins.com Save The Tollins website
External links
Categories:- 1971 births
- Alumni of the University of London
- Living people
- English historical novelists
- English novelists
- Old Merchant Taylors
- Writers of historical fiction set in Antiquity
- Writers of historical fiction set in the Middle Ages
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