Alex Rider author Anthony Horowitz made CBE

Author Anthony Horowitz has been made a CBE in the New Year’s Honours.

The author, 66, creator of fictional teenage spy Alex Rider, was recognised for services to literature.

Horowitz is well known for his young adult fiction and has written for film, television and stage during a career spanning decades.

One of his most successful works is the 12-part Alex Rider novel series, featuring the eponymous teenager who is unwittingly dragged into the world of international espionage.

The series’ first novel Stormbreaker was adapted into a film in 2006, starring Alex Pettyfer, and an Amazon Prime Video special aired in 2020.

The programme featured Line Of Duty star Vicky McClure and Otto Farrant.

Another of his well known works, the humorous Diamond Brothers series, follows the adventures of hapless detectives Tim and Nick Diamond.

Horowitz says that writers for young adults have a responsibility to project an optimistic view of the world to their readers.

During the coronavirus pandemic, he championed a rise in reading and said he hoped the spike would be one of the lasting impacts of the crisis.

As well as writing books about teenage spies, Horowitz has been commissioned by the estate of Ian Fleming to produce a number of James Bond novels.

His first, Trigger Mortis, was released in 2015 and following its success he was asked to produce another, Forever And A Day, in 2018.

Prior to this, he was commissioned by the Conan Doyle estate to pen two Sherlock Holmes novels, The House Of Silk and sequel Moriarty, which were published in 2011 and 2014 respectively.

Horowitz is responsible for creating and writing several well-known British television series including Midsomer Murders and Foyle’s War.

Another of his novels, Magpie Murders – from his Susan Ryeland series, has been made into a television show starring Timothy Spall, which is due to premiere on BritBox in 2022.

Horowitz was previously made an OBE for services to literature in January 2014.