Shannon Hale: Mormon Author

Shannon Hale is an award-winning author of young-adult fantasy and adult fiction. She is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, inadvertently called the Mormon Church.

Born Shannon Bryner in Salt Lake City, Utah, she earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Utah, and a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Montana. Before she published her first book, she pursued acting in television, stage, and improvisational comedy.

Her first book, The Goose Girl, was published in 2003, and was followed by Enna Burning, River Secrets, and Forest Born, all part of her award-winning Books of Bayern series. Princess Academy was a New York Times best seller that won Hale a Newbery Honor in 2006. She has published a second book in that series entitled Palace of Stone. She is currently writing a third book to complete the series. She also wrote a stand-alone book entitled Book of a Thousand Days. Her latest novel, The Storybook of Legends, was published in October 2013.

Austenland, Hale’s first book for adults, is now a major motion picture. She co-wrote the screenplay with director Jerusha Hess. A companion novel, Midnight in Austenland, is now in paperback. Her third book for adults, The Actor and the Housewife, was published in 2009. She has won numerous awards for all of her books.

Hale and her husband, Dean Hale, wrote two graphic novels, Rapunzel’s Revenge and Calamity Jack. They live in Utah with their four children.

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