Born in 1961 in New Plymouth, Anthony McCarten's novels have been translated into 14 languages. His first novel, Spinners (Picador, 2000), was voted one of the top ten novels of that year by Esquire magazine. His third novel, "Death Of A Superhero", won the 2008 Austrian Youth Literature Prize and is a finalist for the 2008 German Youth Literature Prize. "Not since Gunter Grass's The Tin Drum has the pains of growing up been rendered this powerfully." Blick, Zurich. "This novel makes one sick with yearning for more such texts, which are sensitive without being kitschy, which don't mistake coolness for cynicism, which don't pretend that movies, comics, video games, internet just don't exist...A fantastic novel and a small revoltion for the literary form. It is impossible to present our modern world of perceptions more adequately and vividly." Der Spiegel (Online). A major cinema adaption of this novel, with McCarten to write and direct, is to begin production in early 2010.

In 2005, McCarten adapted his second novel, The English Harem, for the screen. It was broadcast on ITV in December 2005 starring Martine McCutcheon and Art Malik. Novelist and three times Booker finalist, Timothy Mo, named The English Harem his Novel Of The Year.

His fourth novel, Show Of Hands, was published in Europe, and in the US by Simon and Schuster in 2009. McCarten has already directed the big screen adaptation and the movie had its world premiere at the Montreal World Film Festival, 2008, and was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director at the New Zealand Film Awards.

McCarten received early international success with his play Ladies Night. Translated into twelve languages it remains New Zealand’s most commercially successful play of all time, and in addition to eight sell-out national tours of Britain it continues to play worldwide. In 2001 it won France’s premiere theatre award for comedy, the Molière Prize. The perceived similarity of The Full Monty to McCarten's play saw him launch a lawsuit in 2001 for plagiarism.

McCarten is also a film director whose first feature film, Via Satellite, which he adapted from his own stage play, was invited to several film festivals including London, Cannes, Toronto, Melbourne, Hawaii and Seattle. His follow-up feature, "Show of Hands" (2008) premiered at the Montreal International Film Festival and was an official selection for the Shanghai Film Festival 2009. His screenplay, The Theory Of Everything, based on the life of Prof. Stephen Hawking and his first wife, Jane Hawking, is under development in Hollywood.

Plays

• Invitation to a Second Class Carriage. Depot Theatre, Wellington, 1984.
• Yellow Canary Mazurka. Circa, 1987.
• Ladies’ Night. With Stephen Sinclair. Mercury, 1987.
• Pigeon English. Playwrights’ Workshop, 1988; Depot, 1989.
• Weed. Circa, 1990.
• Via Satellite. Circa, 1991, and the winner of the NZ Listener Best Play and Wellington Theatre Critics’ Best Production awards for 1991.
• Hang on a Minute, Mate. Downstage, 1992.
• Ladies’ Night 2. With Stephen Sinclair. Mercury, 1992.
• FILTH (Failed in London, Try Hong Kong). Circa, 1995.
• Four Cities aka "Continental Breakfast". Los Angeles, 1996.

Films

• Nocturne in a Room (1992) (Short)
• Fluff (1995) (Short)
• Via Satellite (1999)
• The English Harem (2005)
• Show of Hands (2008)

Novels

• Spinners Random House New Zealand (1999)
• The English Harem Picador (2002), reprinted (film-tie-in) Alma Books (2006)
• Death of a Superhero Alma Books (2006, 2007)
• Show Of Hands (2008) Diogenes (Germ.), Simon and Shuster (US), Random House (NZ)