In 1991, Suzanne Collins began her professional career writing for children’s television. She worked on the staffs of several Nickelodeon shows, including the Emmy-nominated hit Clarissa Explains it All and The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo. For preschool viewers, she penned multiple stories for the Emmy-nominated Little Bear and Oswald. She also co-wrote the Rankin/Bass Christmas special, Santa, Baby! with her friend, Peter Bakalian, which was nominated for a WGA Award in Animation. Most recently she was the Head Writer for Scholastic Entertainment’s Clifford’s Puppy Days and a freelancer on Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! While working on a Kids WB show called Generation O! she met children’s author and illustrator James Proimos, who talked her into giving children’s books a try.

Thinking one day about Alice in Wonderland, she was struck by how pastoral the setting must seem to kids who, like her own, lived in urban surroundings. In New York City, you’re much more likely to fall down a manhole than a rabbit hole and, if you do, you’re not going to find a tea party. What you might find…? Well, that’s the story of Gregor the Overlander, the first book in her five-part fantasy war series, The Underland Chronicles, which became a New York Times bestseller. Internationally, it has been sold in 21 languages. Audio books in English are read by Paul Boehmer and the first and the final books were chosen as ALSC Notable Children’s Recordings.

Her next series, The Hunger Games, is a dystopian war story composed of five books, including the initial trilogy of The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay, and two prequels, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Sunrise on the Reaping. It’s spent over seven years to date on The New York Times bestseller list since publication in September 2008, and has also appeared consistently on USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. An international bestseller, it has been sold in 55 languages.