Eoin Colfer (pronounced Owen) is the New York Times best-selling authorof the blockbuster Artemis Fowl series as well as Airman; Half MoonInvestigations; The Supernaturalist; Eoin Colfer's Legend of... books;The Wish List; Benny and Omar; and Benny and Babe. He was born inWexford on the southeast coast of Ireland in 1965, where he and his fourbrothers were brought up by his father (an elementary school teacher,historian and artist of note) and mother (a drama teacher). He firstdeveloped an interest in writing in primary (elementary) school withgripping Viking stories inspired by history that he was learning inschool at the time.Eoin got his degree from Dublin University and qualified as a primaryschool teacher, returning to work in Wexford. He married in 1991 and heand his wife spent about 4 years between 1992 and 1996 working in SaudiArabia, Tunisia and Italy. His first book, Benny and Omar, was publishedin 1998, based on his experiences in Tunisia; it has since beentranslated into many languages; a sequel followed in 1999. In 2001, thefirst Artemis Fowl book was published worldwide to much success -shortly thereafter he left teaching to concentrate fully on his writing.To this day, Eoin has written 6 Artemis Fowl books which have sold over12 million copies worldwide.