Steven Erikson

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-08-06

Steven Erikson (born Steve Rune Lundin, October 7, 1959) is a Canadian novelist from Toronto who grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, trained as an archaeologist and anthropologist, and is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop; he adopted his pen name as a tribute to his mother's maiden name. He began publishing in 1991, and is best known for his ten-volume epic fantasy series Malazan Book of the Fallen (1999-2011), whose opening novel, Gardens of the Moon, was shortlisted for a World Fantasy Award, with Deadhouse Gates later voted among SF Site's ten best fantasy novels of 2000. He has since expanded the setting with the prequel Kharkanas Trilogy and the ongoing sequel series Tales of Witness, and has also written the science-fiction comedy Willful Child trilogy and the novel Rejoice, a Knife to the Heart (2018). Over three million copies of the Malazan series had sold by 2018. Erikson has lived in the United Kingdom, has one child, and also works as an oil painter; he cites tabletop role-playing games such as AD&D and GURPS, developed with fellow writer Ian C. Esslemont, as foundational influences, and his fiction emphasizes themes of compassion, social inequality, and egalitarianism.