Ransom Riggs (born February 3, 1979) is an American writer and filmmaker best known for the book ''
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
''Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children'' is a contemporary fantasy debut novel by American author Ransom Riggs. The story is told through a combination of narrative and a mix of vernacular and found photography from the personal archives ...
''.
Early life and education
Riggs was born in
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
in 1979 on a 200-year-old farm, and grew up in
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, where he attended
Pine View School for the Gifted.
He studied
English literature
English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...
at
Kenyon College
Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is se ...
in
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
, where he was a good friend of
John Green
John Michael Green (born August 24, 1977) is an American author, YouTube Content creation, content creator, podcaster, and philanthropist. His books have more than 50 million copies in print worldwide, including ''The Fault in Our Stars'' ( ...
. He later studied film at the
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
.
Career
His work on short films for the Internet and blogging for ''
Mental Floss
''Mental Floss'' (stylized as ''mental_floss'') is an online magazine and its related American digital, print, and e-commerce media company focused on millennials. It is owned by Minute Media and based in New York City, United States. mentalflos ...
'' got him a job writing ''The Sherlock Holmes Handbook'' which was released as a
tie-in
A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original prope ...
to the 2009 ''
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...
'' film.
Riggs had collected curious
vernacular photographs and approached his publisher,
Quirk Books
Quirk Books is an American independent book publisher based in Philadelphia.
History
Before 2002, Quirk Books was a creative studio that would pitch novel ideas to other publishers. Quirk Books was founded as a publishing company in 2002 by Da ...
, about using some of them in a
picture book
A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...
. On the suggestion of an editor, Riggs used the photographs as a guide from which to put together a narrative.
The resulting book was ''Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children'', which made
The ''New York Times'' Best Seller list, and was adapted into
the 2016 film of the same name.
Another book inspired by old photographs, ''Talking Pictures'', was published by
HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...
in October 2012.
The second novel in the ''Miss Peregrine'' series, ''
Hollow City'', was released in January 2014, with the third installment, ''
Library of Souls
''Library of Souls'' is a sequel to 2014 novel '' Hollow City'' written by Ransom Riggs and third book in the series of ''Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children''. It was released on September 22, 2015 by Quirk Books
Quirk Books is an ...
'', following in September 2015.
A spin-off book of short stories, ''Tales of the Peculiar'', was released in September 2016.
The fourth novel in the series, ''
A Map of Days
''A Map of Days'' is a sequel to 2015 novel ''Library of Souls'' written by Ransom Riggs and fourth book in the series of ''Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
''Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children'' is a contemporary fantasy d ...
'', was released in October 2018. The fifth novel in the series, ''The Conference of the Birds'', was released in January 2020. The sixth, ''The Desolations of Devil's Acre'', was released on February 23, 2021.
Personal life
Riggs married author
Tahereh Mafi
Tahereh Mafi (November 9, 1988) is an Iranian Americans, American author based in Santa Monica, California. She is known for writing young adult fiction.
Early life
Mafi was born on November 9, 1988, in a small town in Connecticut. She is the yo ...
in 2013. They lived in
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
and later moved to
Irvine, California
Irvine () is a Planned community, master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on ...
. Their first child, a daughter, Layla, was born on May 30, 2017.
Works
Young adult novels
Miss Peregrine series
* ''
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
''Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children'' is a contemporary fantasy debut novel by American author Ransom Riggs. The story is told through a combination of narrative and a mix of vernacular and found photography from the personal archives ...
'' (2011)
* ''
Hollow City'' (2014)
* ''
Library of Souls
''Library of Souls'' is a sequel to 2014 novel '' Hollow City'' written by Ransom Riggs and third book in the series of ''Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children''. It was released on September 22, 2015 by Quirk Books
Quirk Books is an ...
'' (2015)
* ''Tales of the Peculiar'' (2016), short stories collection
* ''
A Map of Days
''A Map of Days'' is a sequel to 2015 novel ''Library of Souls'' written by Ransom Riggs and fourth book in the series of ''Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
''Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children'' is a contemporary fantasy d ...
'' (2018)
* ''The Conference of the Birds'' (2020)
* ''The Desolations of Devil's Acre'' (2021)
* “''Miss Peregrine’s Museum of Wonders: An Indispensable Guide to the Dangers and Delights of the Peculiar World for the Instruction of New Arrivals''” (2022)
Stand-alone
* ''Arcanum'' (2015)
Comics
Miss Peregrine series
*''Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: The Graphic Novel'' (2011), with Cassandra Jean
* ''Hollow City: The Graphic Novel'' (2016), with Cassandra Jean
Non-fiction
* ''The Sherlock Holmes Handbook: The Methods and Mysteries of the World's Greatest Detective'' (2009), guide
* ''Talking Pictures: Images and Messages Rescued from the Past'' (2012), photographies
Adaptations
* ''
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
''Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children'' is a contemporary fantasy debut novel by American author Ransom Riggs. The story is told through a combination of narrative and a mix of vernacular and found photography from the personal archives ...
'' (2016), film directed by
Tim Burton
Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), ''Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), ...
, based on young adult novel ''
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
''Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children'' is a contemporary fantasy debut novel by American author Ransom Riggs. The story is told through a combination of narrative and a mix of vernacular and found photography from the personal archives ...
''
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riggs, Ransom
1979 births
Living people
American male writers
American male novelists
Kenyon College alumni
Writers from Florida
Writers from Maryland
People from Irvine, California
Novelists from California
USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni