Kirkpatrick was born in
Christchurch in 1961, and lived there until 1999, when he and his family moved to
Hamilton. He became interested in maps and mapmaking at primary school, and in the 1990s was noted as having New Zealand's largest collection of
Lego. He holds a PhD in geography from the
University of Canterbury, obtained in 1991, and lectured at the
University of Waikato in Hamilton from 2000 until 2014. he was based in
Canberra, Australia, and working as a sessional lecturer at the
University of Canberra. Of his passion for maps, Kirkpatrick has said: and as author of the
Contemporary Atlas of New Zealand (1999), which had sold more than 20,000 copies . He wrote and provided photographs for a book about New Zealand waterfalls,
Walk to Waterfalls (2011). He has said his favourite waterfall in New Zealand is
Marokopa Falls. Kirkpatrick's first novel,
Across the Face of the World, was published in Australia in 2004, and was the best-selling fantasy novel in Australia in that year, as well as topping the
Dymocks bestseller list for over four weeks. Gerard Campbell for
The Press described it as "a solid fantasy world that is worth a look for fans of the genre". In 2008,
Across the Face of the World was published in the USA and was the best-selling science fiction or fantasy debut in that year. Each of the three novels of Kirkpatrick's
Husk trilogy has won the award for best novel (adult category) at the
Sir Julius Vogel Awards:
Path of Revenge in 2008, and
Beyond the Wall of Time in 2010.
Jason Nahrung, reviewing
Path of Revenge for
The Courier-Mail, noted the praise Kirkpatrick has received for his mapmaking, and said he "has managed to not only paint a working, believable world in this, the first of a new series, but inhabit it with real people as well". Kirkpatrick has described his second trilogy as darker than the first, noting that at the time of writing the first he was training to be a pastor.
Silent Sorrow (2020), the first novel in his planned
The Book of Remezov trilogy, was shortlisted for the best novel award at the 2022 Sir Julius Vogel Awards. ==Selected works==