Shannon Hale is the author of ten novels, including the best-selling Newbery Honor book Princess Academy, the "Books of Bayern" series, two adult novels, and two graphic novels that she and her husband are co-writing. They live with their two small children in South Jordan, Utah.

Before writing professionally, she wrote while pursuing acting in television, stage and improv comedy, as well as studying in Mexico and the United Kingdom. She spent a year and a half as an unpaid missionary in Paraguay, then returned to the United States to earn her bachelor's degree in English from the University of Utah and a master's in creative writing from the University of Montana.

Her first published book, The Goose Girl, was an American Library Association Top Ten Book for Young Adults and Josette Frank Award winner. Princess Academy is a Newbery Honor Book and a New York Times Best Seller.

Early life and education

Shannon Bryner was born in Salt Lake City, where she attended elementary school. She went on to West High School. 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. Hale worked as an instructional designer, developing web-based training for Avaltus and Allen Communication until her writing career took off.

Family

She has two children with husband Dean Hale, son Max (b. 2003) and daughter Magnolia (b. 2006), and the family resides in South Jordan, Utah. She is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She is currently pregnant with twins while working on the sequel to Austenland.

Career

Hale has been writing since the age of 10, but met with numerous rejections until her first book The Goose Girl was finally published in 2003. In 2004 her second novel, Enna Burning, which follows Enna, a minor character from The Goose Girl, was published. The third installment in the Bayern series, River Secrets, was released in September 2006. By then Hale had earned numerous awards for her 2005 release, Princess Academy, including the prestigious Newbery Honor.

She has published two adult novels, Austenland and The Actor and the Housewife. She and her husband Dean Hale have also published a graphic novel, Rapunzel's Revenge. It's sequel is "Calamity Jack" (2010).

A young adult science fiction novel and the fourth book in the Books of Bayern series, titled "Forest Born" came out in 2009.