Suzanne Collins (born August 10, 1962) is an American author and television writer. She is known as the author of the book series '' The Underland Chronicles'' and ''

The Hunger Games ''The Hunger Games'' is a series of young adult dystopian novels written by American author Suzanne Collins. The first three novels are part of a trilogy following teenage protagonist Katniss Everdeen, and the fourth book is a prequel set 6 ...

''.

Early life

Suzanne Collins was born on August 10, 1962, in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

, to Jane Brady Collins (born 1931) and Lieutenant Colonel Michael John Collins (1931–2003), a U.S. Air Force officer who served in the Korean and the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. She is the youngest of four children, who include Kathryn (born 1957), Andrew (born 1958), and Joan (born 1960). As the daughter of a military officer, she and her family were constantly moving. She spent her childhood in the eastern United States. Collins graduated from the Alabama School of Fine Arts in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

in 1980 as a Theater Arts major. She completed her bachelor of arts degree from

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship campus of Indiana University and, with over 40,000 students, its largest c ...

in 1985 with a double major in theater and telecommunications. In 1989, Collins earned her

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts ...

in dramatic writing from the

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

Career

Suzanne Collins began her career in 1991 as a writer for

children's television Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

shows. She worked on several shows for

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

, including '' Clarissa Explains It All'', '' The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo'', '' Little Bear'', ''

Oswald Oswald may refer to: People *Oswald (given name), including a list of people with the name *Oswald (surname), including a list of people with the name Fictional characters *Oswald the Reeve, who tells a tale in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Canterbur ...

'' and '' Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!''. She did not write the children's book Little Bear, which is sometimes mistaken as her own book. She was also the head writer for Scholastic Entertainment's '' Clifford's Puppy Days''. She received a

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO * The Writers Gu ...

nomination in animation for co-writing the critically acclaimed Christmas special, ''Santa, Baby!'' After meeting children's author James Proimos while working on the

Kids' WB Kids' WB (stylized as Kids' WB!) was an American children's programming service and brand of The WB that aired on the network from September 9, 1995, to September 16, 2006. The block moved to The CW (a result of the merger of Time Warner's The W ...

show '' Generation O!'', Collins felt inspired to write

children's books A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younge ...

herself. Her inspiration for '' Gregor the Overlander'', the first book of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' best-selling series '' The Underland Chronicles'', came from ''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatur ...

'', when she was thinking about how one was more likely to fall down a manhole than a rabbit hole, and would find something other than a tea party. Between 2003 and 2007 she wrote the five books of the '' Underland Chronicles'': '' Gregor the Overlander'', ''

Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane ''Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane'' is the second book in Suzanne Collins's children's novel series ''The Underland Chronicles''. Published in 2004, the novel contains elements of high fantasy. The novel focuses on a prophecy mentioned at the en ...

'', '' Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods'', ''

Gregor and the Marks of Secret ''Gregor and the Marks of Secret'' is a high fantasy/ epic fantasy novel, the fourth book in the critically acclaimed ''The Underland Chronicles'' by Suzanne Collins. It picks up soon after the end of ''Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods''. ...

'', and '' Gregor and the Code of Claw''. During that time, Collins also wrote a rhyming picture book, ''When Charlie McButton Lost Power'' (2005), illustrated by Mike Lester. In September 2008,

Scholastic Press Scholastic Corporation () is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, parents, and children. Products are distributed via retail and on ...

released ''

'', the first book of a trilogy by Collins. ''The Hunger Games'' was partly inspired by the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. Another inspiration was her father's career in the

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

, which gave her insight to poverty, starvation, and the effects of war. The trilogy's second book, '' Catching Fire'', was released in September 2009, and its third book, '' Mockingjay'', was released on August 24, 2010. Within 14 months, 1.5 million copies of the first two ''Hunger Games'' books were printed in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

alone. ''The Hunger Games'' was on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list for more than 60 weeks in a row.

Lions Gate Entertainment Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

acquired worldwide distribution rights to a film adaptation of ''The Hunger Games'', produced by Nina Jacobson's Color Force production company. Collins adapted the novel for film herself. Directed by

Gary Ross Gary Ross (born November 3, 1956) is an American film director, writer, and producer. He is best known for writing and directing the fantasy comedy-drama film '' Pleasantville'' (1998), the sports drama film '' Seabiscuit'' (2003), the sci-fi act ...

, filming began in late spring 2011, with

Jennifer Lawrence Jennifer Shrader Lawrence (born August 15, 1990) is an American actress. The world's highest-paid actress in 2015 and 2016, her films have grossed over $6 billion worldwide to date. She appeared in ''Time''s 100 most influential people ...

portraying main character

Katniss Everdeen Katniss Everdeen is a fictional character and the protagonist of '' The Hunger Games'' trilogy written by American author Suzanne Collins. Her name comes from a plant with edible tubers called '' Sagittaria'' (katniss), from Sagittarius the Ar ...

. Josh Hutcherson played Peeta Mellark and Liam Hemsworth played Gale Hawthorne. The subsequent two novels were adapted into films as well, with the latter book split into two cinematic installments, for a total of four films representing the three books. As a result of the popularity of ''The Hunger Games'' books, Collins was named one of ''Time'' magazine's most influential people of 2010. In March 2012, Amazon announced that she had become the best-selling Kindle author of all time. Amazon also revealed that Collins had written 29 of the 100 most highlighted passages in Kindle ebooks—and on a separate Amazon list of recently highlighted passages, she had written 17 of the top 20. On June 17, 2019, Collins announced that a prequel to ''The Hunger Games'' would be released on May 19, 2020. The premise is based on the life of future President Coriolanus Snow, 64 years before the events of ''The Hunger Games'' trilogy. On October 4, 2019 the title was revealed to be ''

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes ''The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes'' is a dystopian action-adventure novel by American author Suzanne Collins. It is a spin-off and a prequel to ''The Hunger Games'' trilogy. It was released on May 19, 2020, by Scholastic. An audiobook of the n ...

.''

Awards

* 2011 –

California Young Reader Medal The California Young Reader Medal is a set of five annual literary awards conferred upon picture books and fiction books selected by vote of California schoolchildren from a ballot prepared by committee. The program was established in 1974 with Int ...

* ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

''s Best Books of the Year: Children's Fiction * An

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...

Top 10 Best Books For Young Adult Selection * An

ALA Notable Children's Book American Library Association Notable lists are announced each year in January by various divisions within the American Library Association (ALA). There are six lists, part of the larger ALA awards structure. * ''ALA Notable Books for Adults'' (est ...

* 2008

CYBIL Award The Cybils Awards, or Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards, are a set of annual book awards given by people who blog about children's and young-adult books. Co-founded by Kelly Herold and Anne Boles Levy in 2006, the awards were ...

– Fantasy and Science Fiction *

KIRKUS ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fict ...

Best Young Adult Book of 2008 * A

Horn Book ''The Horn Book Magazine'', founded in Boston in 1924, is the oldest bimonthly magazine dedicated to reviewing children's literature. It began as a "suggestive purchase list" prepared by Bertha Mahony Miller and Elinor Whitney Field, proprietres ...

Fanfare * ''

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with ...

'' Best Books of 2008 * A Book List Editor's Choice, 2008 * NY Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing * 2004 NAIBA Children's Novel Award * 2006 ALSC Notable Children's Recording (audio version)ALSC Notable Recording." Books on Tape.
Random House, Inc., Web. February 8, 2010. * 2016

Authors Guild The Authors Guild is America's oldest and largest professional organization for writers and provides advocacy on issues of free expression and copyright protection. Since its founding in 1912 as the Authors League of America, it has counted among ...

Award for Distinguished Service to the Literary Community (first time awarded to an author of

young adult fiction Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults. The subject matter and genres of YA correlate ...

)

Publications

'' The Underland Chronicles''

# '' Gregor the Overlander'' (2003) # ''

'' (2004) # '' Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods'' (2005) # ''

'' (2006) # '' Gregor and the Code of Claw'' (2007)

''The Hunger Games'' series

Original Series

# ''

'' (2008) # '' Catching Fire'' (2009) # '' Mockingjay'' (2010)

Prequel

# ''

'' (2020)

Other books

* ''Fire Proof: Shelby Woo #11'' (1999) * ''When Charlie McButton Lost Power'' (2005) * ''Year of the Jungle'' (2013)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Suzanne 1962 births Living people 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers American children's writers American science fiction writers American women novelists American writers of young adult literature Indiana University Bloomington alumni Writers from Birmingham, Alabama People from Sandy Hook, Connecticut Tisch School of the Arts alumni American women children's writers Women science fiction and fantasy writers Women writers of young adult literature Novelists from Alabama Writers from Hartford, Connecticut Writers of young adult science fiction Novelists from Connecticut