Samantha Shannon (born 8 November 1991) is a British writer of dystopian and paranormal fiction. Read full biography of Samantha Shannon →
For me, just being published feels like success.
I am never not thinking about stories. 'The Bone Season' is 90% of my brain - 10% is interacting with the rest of the world.
I often look at places and kind of mentally convert them to fantasy versions of themselves.
I wanted to write a sci-fi story that would appeal to young women. Loads of girls like sci-fi, but it's more culturally associated with guys.
I was always more interested in my books and my writing than going out. It's OK to say I'm a nerd. That's me.
I was born in 1991, and 'Harry Potter' came out in '97, so, you know, I was really obsessed. I used to read them in one night.
I was not a rebellious teenager. I was a sit-in-your-room teenager.
I'm not going to give it the big 'I am' now that I'm a New York Times bestseller.
I've never had a supernatural experience. I've been tempted to maybe have a tarot-card reading, but I don't know if I'd necessarily... →
What I like about Oxford is how small it is; it's really more of a big town than a city.
I was a shy child, and when I was 13, I started wearing braces on my teeth. I used to be acutely self-conscious, and I think writing was a way of... →
I always felt that sci-fi and fantasy were my thing. Bit of a geek, I'm afraid. But I like creating worlds, and I felt it was a genre that gave... →
I fell even more deeply in love with Tolkien's legendarium after studying Old English literature at uni, as I got a sense of the historical... →
Samantha Shannon (born 8 November 1991) is a British writer of dystopian and paranormal fiction.