Alexander Gordon Smith is an author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 of books, mainly for children and young adults.

Between 2000 and 2003 he studied English literature

English literature

English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....

 at the University of East Anglia

University of East Anglia

The University of East Anglia is a public research university based in Norwich, United Kingdom. It was established in 1963, and is a founder-member of the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities.-History:...

, where he set up a small poetry press called Egg Box Publishing. Egg Box published a number of new poets, including Richard Evans, Ramona Herdman and poetry collective Aisle16, and continues to add to its list of books.

In October 2004, Smith published a creative writing guide, "Inspired Creative Writing", for Infinite Ideas

Infinite Ideas

-History:Infinite Ideas was founded in 2004 by David Grant and Richard Burton. Its declared strategy was to create a publishing business like no other...

 Ltd. A followup guide, "Writing Bestselling Children's Books" was published in July 2007.

Novels for children

In Summer 2005, Smith and his nine-year-old brother Jamie Webb began writing The Inventors

The Inventors

The Inventors is a children's novel, co-written by Alexander Gordon Smith and his brother Jamie Webb. It follows the story of two best friends, Nate and Cat, young inventors who win a year-long scholarship at Saint Solutions, a giant skyscraper. There, under the eye of the world's greatest...

, a children's novel. The book was shortlisted for The Wow Factor, a national competition run by Waterstones and Faber and Faber

Faber and Faber

Faber and Faber Limited, often abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in the UK, notable in particular for publishing a great deal of poetry and for its former editor T. S. Eliot. Faber has a rich tradition of publishing a wide range of fiction, non fiction, drama, film and music...

 publishers, and although it lost out to Sarah Wray's The Forbidden Room

The Forbidden Room

The Forbidden Room is a 1914 silent drama film directed by Allan Dwan and featuring Lon Chaney, Sr. The film is now considered to be lost.-Cast:* Murdock MacQuarrie - Dr. James Gibson* Pauline Bush - Gibson's sister / niece...

it was taken on by Faber and published in April 2007. The sequel, The Inventors and the City of Stolen Souls was published in June 2008.

He is also the author of the Furnace series (Escape From Furnace in the United States).

The Inventors series

• The Inventors
  The Inventors
  The Inventors is a children's novel, co-written by Alexander Gordon Smith and his brother Jamie Webb. It follows the story of two best friends, Nate and Cat, young inventors who win a year-long scholarship at Saint Solutions, a giant skyscraper. There, under the eye of the world's greatest...
  
  (2007) ISBN 0-571-23310-4
• The Inventors in the City of Stolen Souls (2008) ISBN 978-0-571-23843-9

The Furnace series

• Furnace: Lockdown (2009)
• Furnace: Solitary (2010)
• Furnace: Death Sentence (2011)
• Furnace: Fugitives (2012)
• Furnace: Execution (2012)

Non-Fiction

• Inspired Creative Writing (2004)
• Writing Bestselling Children's Books (2007)

External links

• Gordon's official site
• AG Smith Interview at BookReviewsAndMore.ca
• Alexander Gordon Smith at the Internet Movie Database