John Harwood was born in Hobart, Tasmania, where he grew up in a house full of books, including numerous collections of ghost stories, an interest which would resurface many years later in THE GHOST WRITER.  He was educated at the Friends' School and the University of Tasmania, where he read English and Philosophy, before going on to Cambridge as a graduate student.  He taught English at the Flinders University of South Australia, where he became head of the school of English and Drama. In 1998, he left Flinders to write fiction full-time.  He lives in Victor Harbor, South Australia, where he is currently at work on his third novel.

THE GHOST WRITER was published in 2004, and has since been translated into several languages.  It won the International Horror Guild's First Novel Award for Outstanding Achievement in Horror and Dark Fantasy, and the 'Children of the Night' Award for Best Gothic Novel of 2004, from the Dracula Society of Great Britain. 

THE SÉANCE, a dark mystery set in late Victo rian England, was published in the UK in April 2008 to widespread critical claim; it will be published in the U.S. by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in February 2009.

U.S. Rights: Anderson Literary Management.
Primary Agent: Victoria Hobbs at A.M. Heath.