After finishing his degree in 1986 he worked in a bookshop, then as a book publicist, a publisher's sales representative, and editor. Garth left Melbourne at an early age for Canberra (the federal capital) and stayed there till he was nineteen, when he left to drive around the UK in a beat-up Austin with a boot full of books and a Silver-Reed typewriter.ĭespite a wheel literally falling off the Austin, Garth survived to return to Australia and study at the University of Canberra. Sabriel had been lauded for 'slaying gender stereotypes,' but the extent to which Nix's worldbuilding would take this was perhaps not seen until recently in 'To Hold the Bridge' and Clariel, where gender parity is shown to have existed even centuries ago.Garth Nix was born in 1963 in Melbourne, Australia, to the sound of the Salvation Army band outside playing 'Hail the Conquering Hero Comes' or possibly 'Roll Out the Barrel'. The series has been applauded as possibly unique among fantasy, especially in recent years as its first readers are becoming literary critics, as being beyond feminist or even post-feminist: the Old Kingdom is a place where gender roles do not exist. Books in the series have been finalists for mainstream book awards over twenty times. Ībhorsen won another Aurealis Award while 'To Hold the Bridge' earned another Ditmar Award. Lirael won Australia’s 2002 Adelaide Festival Award for Children’s Literature, along with a Ditmar Award. Sabriel won Aurealis Awards in both the Best Fantasy Novel and Best YA Novel categories. Terciel & Elinor (2021), a direct prequel to Sabriel.

Goldenhand (2016), a direct sequel to Abhorsen and 'The Creature In the Case' and follow-up to Clariel.

Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen (2014), a prequel talking place 600 years in the past.

“ To Hold the Bridge: An Old Kingdom Story”: a novella first published in Legends of Australian Fantasy in 2010, then again in 2015 as part of To Hold the Bridge.

'Nicholas Sayre and the Creature In the Case,' a short story originally published for World Book Day, then again as part of Across The Wall: A Tale of the Abhorsen and Other Stories.

Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr, set fourteen years after Sabriel.

The following books and stories make up the series, in publication order.

Abhorsen trilogy