Garth Nix was born in 1963 in Melbourne, Australia. After graduating from the University of Canberra, he worked in a bookshop, then as a book publicist, a publisher's sales representative, and an editor. Along the way, he was also a part-time soldier in the Australian Army Reserve. Nix left publishing to work as a public relations and marketing consultant for three years before becoming a full-time writer in 1998. He currently lives in a beach suburb of Sydney, with his wife Anna, a publisher.