Ben Sanders (born 1989) is a bestselling crime writer from

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. His work has received critical acclaim, been shortlisted for the

Ngaio Marsh Award The Ngaio Marsh Awards (formerly Ngaio Marsh Award), popularly called the Ngaios, are literary awards presented annually in New Zealand to recognise excellence in crime fiction, mystery, and thriller writing. The Awards were established by jour ...

, and his fourth novel, ''American Blood'', has been optioned for film adaptation by

Warner Bros Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

, with four-time Oscar nominee

Bradley Cooper Bradley Charles Cooper (born January 5, 1975) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and two Grammy Awards, in addition to nominations for nine Academy Awards, si ...

slated to play the lead role.

Life

Sanders was born and raised on the North Shore of the city of

. He wanted to be a writer from when he was a young child. Sanders was a keen reader as a child, and particularly enjoyed crime and thriller fiction. He read the Day of the Jackal while in middle school, and was hooked. His favourite authors as a young reader were

Lee Child James Dover Grant (born 29 October 1954), primarily known by his pen name Lee Child, is a British author who writes thriller novels, and is best known for his ''Jack Reacher'' novel series. The books follow the adventures of a former America ...

Michael Connelly Michael Joseph Connelly (born July 21, 1956) is an American author of detective novels and other crime fiction, notably those featuring LAPD Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch and criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller. Connelly is the bes ...

, Peter Dexter, and

James Ellroy Lee Earle "James" Ellroy (born March 4, 1948) is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a telegrammatic prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, ...

. He tried writing his own crime novel, set in the United States, as a teenager. After writing two unpublished crime novels as a high school student, Sanders secured a two-book deal with

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...

that saw his debut novel ''The Fallen'' published in 2010 when he was a 20-year-old engineering student at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

The Auckland Trilogy

''The Fallen'' introduced Sean Devereaux, an Auckland police detective, and John Hale, a security specialist and ex-colleague. Sanders' story of kidnapping, murder, and police corruption became a #1 New Zealand fiction bestseller, staying atop the bestseller charts for several weeks. The book received widespread critical acclaim, including being named on the ''New Zealand Listener's'' prestigious 100 Best Books list, and was later longlisted for the 2011

. Sanders followed up ''The Fallen'' with two further Auckland-set novels starring Devereaux and Hale: ''By Any Means'' (Harpercollins, 2011) and ''Only the Dead'' (Harpercollins, 2013). Both were New Zealand fiction bestsellers, and ''By Any Means'' was a finalist for the 2012

. The international judging panel for the

called ''By Any Means'' a “real page turner” and Sanders “a master of the short sentence and crisp dialogue”, reminiscent of Elmore Leonard. Sanders' first three published novels - the Auckland Trilogy - were all written while he was studying

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

at the

; he later graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering with First Class Honours and was named on the Dean's Honours List.

''American Blood''

Following the critical and commercial success of his Auckland trilogy, Sanders was signed to a two-book contract by New York publishers Macmillan after he visited the United States on a Bellingham Wallace Emerging Talent Award in mid 2013. Macmillan wanted Sanders to set his new novels in the United States rather than New Zealand. ''American Blood'' was Sanders’ American debut, and it launched a new crime series about Marshall Grade, an ex-NYPD officer turned mob informant, who is pulled into a dangerous investigation while living under the witness protection program in New Mexico. He has also published the novels ''Marshall’s Law'' (2017) and ''The Stakes'' (2018). In February 2014, the film rights to ''American Blood'' were optioned by

, following interest from other film studios and TV companies, with four-time Oscar nominee

tabbed to produce and star in the lead role. ''American Blood'' was scheduled to be published in November 2015. Translation rights have already been sold to publishers in Germany, Russia and Japan.

Awards

Sanders has received several books, arts, and young talent accolades in the first few years of his career. *2011 -

- longlisted for ''The Fallen'' *2012 - Bellingham Wallace Emerging Talent Award *2012 -

- finalist for ''By Any Means'' *2014 - AIMES Awards - winner of the Arts Award and the Sir Peter Blake Trophy (the Supreme Award) *2014 -

- longlisted for ''Only the Dead'' *2022 -

- finalist for ''The Devils You Know''

References

External links

Official Ben Sanders website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Ben Living people 1989 births Writers from Auckland New Zealand crime fiction writers University of Auckland alumni 21st-century New Zealand novelists Date of birth missing (living people)