Matthew J. Kirby is an American author of several middle grade children's books. His

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

, '' The Clockwork Three'', is a children's

historical fantasy Historical fantasy is a category of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic) into a more "realistic" narrative. There is much crossover with other subgenres of fantasy; those classed as Arthu ...

set in a fictional American city in the late 19th century. It was inspired by a newspaper article Kirby came across in history class in college.

Life

Kirby was born in

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. As the son of a naval officer, he had the opportunity to live in various parts of the country, including Maryland,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, and Hawaii. As a pre-teen, he was given a set of

Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the '' Earthsea'' fantasy series. She was ...

's ''

Earthsea ''The Earthsea Cycle'', also known as ''Earthsea'', is a series of high fantasy books written by the American writer Ursula K. Le Guin. Beginning with ''A Wizard of Earthsea'' (1968), '' The Tombs of Atuan'', (1970) and '' The Farthest Shore'' ...

'' books. As he read a particular passage, he was struck by her use of language and knew he wanted to become a writer. He earned his bachelor's degree in history at

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah ...

and went on to earn his master's degree in

school psychology School psychology is a field that applies principles from educational psychology, developmental psychology, clinical psychology, community psychology, and behavior analysis to meet the learning and behavioral health needs of children and adol ...

. His early writing endeavors were more tailored to adults in the form of poetry and short fiction, but he eventually settled into writing for young people as he discovered many of his ideas were more "suited for a younger audience." In 2010, his first book, '' The Clockwork Three'', was published by Scholastic Press, and was named one of Publishers Weekly's 2010 Flying Starts. His second book, ''Icefall'', about a Viking princess, won the 2012 Edgar Award for Juvenile Fiction. He currently lives near

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

with his wife, Jaime.

Works

Novels

* '' The Clockwork Three'' (2010) * ''

Icefall An icefall is a portion of certain glaciers characterized by relatively rapid flow and chaotic crevassed surface, caused in part by gravity. The term ''icefall'' is formed by analogy with the word ''waterfall'', which is a similar phenomenon of ...

'' (2011) *

Infinity Ring The ''Infinity Ring'' is a series of young adult science fiction adventure novels written by multiple authors, including James Dashner, Lisa McMann, Matt de la Peña, Matthew J. Kirby, and Jennifer A. Nielsen, in a similar fashion to ''The 39 ...

: Book 5: ''Cave of Wonders'' (2013) * ''The Lost Kingdom'' (2013) * The Quantum League: ''Spell Robbers'' (2014) * The Dark Gravity Sequence, Book 1: ''The Arctic Code'' (2015) * The Dark Gravity Sequence, Book 2: ''Island of the Sun'' (May 2016) * The Dark Gravity Sequence, Book 3: ''The Rogue World'' (June 2017) * '' Last Descendants'' (September 2016) * ''A Taste For Monsters'' (September 2016) * ''Last Descendants, Book 2: Tomb of the Khan'' (December 2016) * ''Last Descendants; Book 3: Fate of the Gods'' (December 2017) * ''Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Geirmund's Saga'' (November 2020)

Poetry

* "In Their Element" (as M.J. Kirby) (2005)

Short fiction

* "Letters on Natural Magic" (2007)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirby, Matthew J. American male writers Living people American children's writers Edgar Award winners Year of birth missing (living people)