Eoin Colfer (pronounced Owen) was born in Wexford on the South-East coast of Ireland in 1965, where he and his four brothers were brought up by his father (an elementary school teacher, historian and artist of note) and mother (a drama teacher). He first developed an interest in writing in primary (elementary) school with gripping Viking stories inspired by history he was learning in school at the time!
After leaving school he got his degree from Dublin university and qualified as a primary school teacher, returning to work in Wexford. He married in 1991 and he and his wife spent about 4 years between 1992 and 1996 working in Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Italy. His first book, Benny and Omar, was published in 1998, based on his experiences in Tunisia; it has since been translated into many languages. A sequel followed in 1999, followed by some other books (see below). Then in 2001 the first Artemis Fowl book was published and he was able to resign from teaching and concentrate fully on writing.
1986年欧因·科弗成为一名小学教师,业余时间坚持写作。1991年婚后的数年间,曾旅居意大利、突尼西亚和沙特阿拉伯等地,这段经历对他后来的文学创作产生了很大影响。
艾欧因·寇弗的儿童文学创作之路可谓一帆风顺,处女作《班尼和欧玛》一经出版即跃上畅销书榜。2001年夏天,他完成了后来风靡全球青少年的《阿特米斯奇幻历险》第一部。这部作品的巨大成功令他决心放弃教职专心写作。
《阿特米斯奇幻历险》系列是欧美畅销书榜的常客,获得很多奖项,已在43个国家和地区出版,全球销量1300余万册。36岁的爱尔兰中学老师欧因·科弗因此收到了英国历史上最高的儿童文学作品稿酬——70万英镑。他的《阿特米斯奇幻历险》系列如今在欧洲畅销榜的排名已超出《哈利·波特》系列,兴高采烈的Miramax出版公司随后又支付了25万英镑。前三册的电影版权已由迪斯尼购买。
J.K.罗琳和欧因·科弗被英国媒体津津乐道地做比较,都是教师、短时间内迅速成名、出版系列都非常畅销、内容和魔法有关、主角都是12岁左右的男孩。对此科弗不耐烦地说:“我喜欢罗琳,但我们的风格也有差异,苹果和橘子有什么好比的?”
以下为对购买帮助不大的评价