Hale and screenwriter Jerusha Hess then wrote the screenplay for a film adaptation of Austenland, released in 2013 at the Sundance Film Festival. Her first adult novel, Austenland, was also featured by Book Sense.
#Shannon hale friends series series#
Hale has remarked that the series is "a love letter to education." In 2015 she continued the story with a third installment, Princess Academy: The Forgotten Sisters. After the positive response from readers and reviewers alike to Princess Academy, Hale wrote its sequel, Princess Academy: Palace of Stone. Her novel Princess Academy was featured on The New York Times Best Seller list, as well as that of Book Sense and Publishers Weekly. The other Books of Bayern include Enna Burning, River Secrets, and Forest Born. Hundreds of thousands of copies of the novel have been printed in a total of fifteen languages. Goose Girl also won the 2004 Josette Frank Award for fiction and was reprinted by Bloomsbury in 2017. It was named an ALA Teens' Top Ten and became the first of many novels in Hale's Books of Bayern series. Hale based the book on her favorite fairy tale of the same name. The Goose Girl became her first published novel after being met with nine rejections Hale received an offer in 2003 from Bloomsbury Publishing. She originally planned to work in literary fiction, publishing short stories and teaching English, before writing young adult and children's books. She began writing The Goose Girl while in her graduate writing program, and worked on her drafts of it during her lunch break while working at her instructional design job. Career īefore becoming a full-time author, Hale participated in stage and improvisational comedy, studied in Mexico and the United Kingdom, and worked as an instructional designer. While studying at the University of Montana, Hale wrote 100 short stories and submitted many for publication, but none were accepted. She later earned a master's degree in Creative Writing from the University of Montana. She served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Paraguay for 18 months before graduating with a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Utah in 1998. She attended the University of Utah, primarily majoring in both English and Theater before deciding solely to pursue the former. Hale has said that her theater experience has improved her writing skills, particularly in character creation and world building. She met her spouse, Dean Hale, freshman year at West High School he was also involved in theater. with an improvisational theater group whose productions highlighted a range of teen issues. Hale also took part in drama competitions and traveled throughout Utah and the U.S. She participated in both school and community theater productions, including The Secret Garden. She took a creative writing class and worked as an editor of fiction for her high school's literary magazine. She then attended West High School, where she cultivated passions for English and drama. Author Dean Hughes visited her English class.
In junior high, Hale participated on the school literary magazine.
Her elementary school teachers encouraged her creative endeavors and, in the fourth grade, Hale announced that she wanted to be a writer as an adult.
She also began to write fantasy books at age 10, often featuring herself as the protagonist. She enjoyed writing, reading, and acting as a young girl she often created plays which she would act out with friends. She is the middle child of five children she has two older sisters, one younger sister, and one younger brother. Hale was born on Januin Salt Lake City to Wallace and Bonnie Bryner.