Eoin Colfer was born in Wexford, Ireland in 1965. He qualified as a primary school teacher, and spent about four years working in Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Italy. In 2001 the first Artemis Fowl book was published, and the series went on to sell 20 million copies around the world. Eoin was able to resign from teaching and concentrate fully on writing, including his two mystery novels PLUGGED and SCREWED. He now lives in Ireland with his wife and two children.