Samantha Shannon (born 8 November 1991) is a British writer of dystopian and paranormal fiction. Read full biography of Samantha Shannon →
I'm often daydreaming, and it's because I've always liked the idea of there being something more than the normal world.
I was not really aware of the dystopian genre before I read 'The Handmaid's Tale.' Many poets as well, like John Donne and Emily... →
I was a hacker of sorts. Not a mind 'reader,' exactly; more a mind 'radar,' in tune with the workings of the aether. I could sense... →
I was so sure I wanted to be a novelist. I would spend hours and hours every day writing. Little stories about nothing in particular. I recall one... →
I am the first one to go to university in my family. I am the first writer as well. My dad is a retired policeman, and my mom works for a... →
I do take this insane pleasure in world-building. I get the world in my head, but I have to make sure everyone else gets it.
It is a strange world, Oxford - quite claustrophobic. I was often glad I was only there for eight weeks at a time.
'The Bone Season' is violent. There's sex. My little brother keeps asking to read it, and he's 9, so I'm like, 'No, it's... →
Whenever anyone calls me 'The new J..K. Rowling,' I think, 'What's wrong with the old one?'
Rowling is a luminous storyteller. I love her sense of humor and the intricate wizarding world she built around Hogwarts. I think all writers aspire... →
I worry that people think you have to go to a university to be a good writer, which is categorically untrue. I don't think I learned how to write... →
My English teachers gave me a copy of Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale' when I left high school, which has always been very special to... →
People question what I thought of Oxford. Students used to talk about the 'Oxford bubble' because the place can make you feel cut off from... →
Samantha Shannon (born 8 November 1991) is a British writer of dystopian and paranormal fiction.