Jay Kristoff was born in Perth, Australia in 1974. He graduated from college with an Arts degree. His works include the Lotus War trilogy, the Nevernight Chronicle series, and the Lifelike series. He is the co-author of The Illuminae Files Trilogy, which won the 2015 Aurealis Awards Best Science Fiction Novel, the 2016 Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the year for older children (8 to 14 years), and the 2016 Gold Inky Award. The Last Stormdancer won the 2014 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Short Fiction. His book, Godsgrave, won the 2017 Aurealis Awards for the best Australian fantasy.