Ian Cameron Esslemont was born in Winnipeg, Canada and currently lives in Alaska with his wife and three sons. He is a trained archaeologist, has travelled extensively in Southeast Asia and lived in Thailand and Japan.

He is currently completing a PhD in English Literature while working on further novels 'of the Malazan Empire', of which there are expected to be six in total. Night of Knives (2005) was his debut novel, followed by Return of the Crimson Guard (2008).