Derek Landy

Derek Landy
Landy in Edinburgh, August 2011
Born	Derek Landy 1974
Nationality	Irish
Genre	Children's fantasy
Notable works	Skulduggery Pleasant
Notable awards	Red House Children's Book Award 2008 Skulduggery Pleasant

Derek Landy (born 23 October 1974) is an Irish author and screenwriter, best known for the Skulduggery Pleasant series of young adult's books.

Landy has written two screenplays that have been made into films, the IFTA award winning Dead Bodies and the IFTA nominated Boy Eats Girl starring Samantha Mumba. Landy himself was nominated for an IFTA for Best Script.

Frustrated with the collaborative process of filmmaking, Landy moved on to writing the Skulduggery Pleasant, starting with Skulduggery Pleasant. The novel was published by Harper Collins, who paid £1.8 million for the publishing rights. There are 9 books in the series. In 2007, he signed a deal with Warner Bros. worth an estimated US$1 million for the rights to adapt his Skulduggery Pleasant series, which he will adapt himself. However, his script was constantly rewritten and Landy, unhappy with the results, bought back the rights. He is currently working on a script with the producers of Clash of the Titans.

Landy is a fan of Joss Whedon's works, notably Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series. He is also a fan of Gilmore Girls and Doctor Who.

Landy wrote a short story based on the tenth Doctor from Doctor Who as part of a short story collection celebrating the show's 50th Anniversary. The story was published by Puffin in 2013, titled "The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage".

Landy was born on 23 October 1974 in Skerries, near Dublin, Ireland. He attended Drogheda Grammar School during his childhood years, briefly studied animation at Ballyfermot College, and has a black belt in kenpo karate. Prior to his contract with HarperCollins, he worked on his parents' vegetable farm.