1. Shannon Hale is an American author primarily of young adult fantasy, including the Newbery Honor book Princess Academy and The Goose Girl.
30 Facts About Shannon Hale
1. 2.
Shannon Hale is a graduate of the University of Utah and the University of Montana.
3.
Shannon Hale is the middle child of five children; she has two older sisters, one younger sister, and one younger brother.
4.
Shannon Hale enjoyed writing, reading, and acting as a young girl; she often created plays that she would act out with friends.
5.
Shannon Hale began to write fantasy books at age 10, often featuring herself as the protagonist.
6.
Shannon Hale then attended West High School, where she cultivated passions for English and drama.
7.
Shannon Hale took a creative writing class and worked as an editor of fiction for her high school's literary magazine.
8.
Shannon Hale participated in both school and community theater productions, including The Secret Garden.
9.
Shannon Hale took part in drama competitions and traveled throughout Utah and the US with an improvisational theater group whose productions highlighted a range of teen issues.
10.
Shannon Hale met her spouse, Dean Hale, freshman year at West High School; he was involved in theater.
11.
Shannon Hale has said that her theater experience has improved her writing skills, particularly in character creation and world building.
12.
Shannon Hale attended the University of Utah, initially majoring in both English and Theater before deciding solely to pursue the former.
13.
Shannon Hale served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Paraguay for 18 months before graduating with a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Utah in 1998.
14.
Shannon Hale later earned a master's degree in Creative Writing from the University of Montana.
15.
Shannon Hale began writing The Goose Girl while in her graduate writing program, and worked on her drafts of it during her lunch break while working at her instructional design job.
16.
Shannon Hale originally planned to work in literary fiction, publishing short stories and teaching English, before writing young adult and children's books.
17.
The Goose Girl became her first published novel after being met with nine rejections; Shannon Hale received an offer in 2003 from Bloomsbury Publishing.
18.
Shannon Hale based the book on her favorite fairy tale of the same name.
19.
Shannon Hale said that receiving the award was an "unexpected gift" that has profoundly affected her career.
20.
In 2012 Shannon Hale released a sequel novel, Midnight in Austenland.
21.
In 2017, Shannon Hale released a graphic memoir titled Real Friends, chronicling her struggles in grade school.
22.
Shannon Hale ventured further into science fiction with her own YA superhero novel, Dangerous, in 2014.
23.
Shannon Hale is an advocate for gender equality; she has noticed how her books are marketed only to girls, despite positive reception from both genders.
24.
Shannon Hale has written a few articles about this subject.
25.
Shannon Hale is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
26.
Shannon Hale stopped attending the LDS church in 2021, having disagreed with her community's apparent tolerance of misogyny and intolerance of LGBTQ people, but she still considers herself a Mormon.
27.
Shannon Hale is the mother of four children: Max, Magnolia, and twin girls Dinah and Wren.
28.
The Rapunzel's Revenge series is co-authored with Dean Shannon Hale and illustrated by Nathan Shannon Hale.
29.
The Princess in Black series is co-authored with Dean Shannon Hale and illustrated by LeUyen Pham.
30.
The Diana series is co-authored with Dean Shannon Hale and illustrated by Victoria Ying.