Brandon Sanderson

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Brandon Sanderson bigraphy, stories - American writer

Brandon Sanderson : biography

December 19, 1975 –

Brandon Sanderson (born December 19, 1975) is an American writer. He is best known for his Mistborn series and his work in finishing Robert Jordan’s epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time.

Sanderson worked as an editor for the semi-professional magazine Leading Edge while attending school at Brigham Young University, where he now periodically teaches creative writing. In 2008 Sanderson started a podcast with authors Dan Wells and Howard Tayler called Writing Excuses, involving topics about creating and producing genre writing and webcomics.

Biography

A Nebraska native, Sanderson currently resides in American Fork, Utah. He earned his Master’s degree in Creative Writing in 2005 from Brigham Young University, where he was on the staff of Leading Edge, a semi-professional speculative fiction magazine published by the university. He was a college roommate of Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings.

Sanderson was married on July 7, 2006. He has two children. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served as a missionary in Seoul, Korea. He currently teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University, in addition to working on his own writing.

He is a participant in the weekly podcast Writing Excuses with authors Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, and web cartoonist Howard Tayler.

Selected awards and honors

  • 2005 Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award, Best Epic Fantasy Novel Award, for Elantris
  • 2006 Nominated John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer from the World Science Fiction Convention
  • 2006 Nominated Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award, Best Epic Fantasy Novel Award, for Mistborn
  • 2007 Nominated John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer from the World Science Fiction Convention
  • 2007 Nominated Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award, Best Epic Fantasy Novel Award, for The Well of Ascension
  • 2007 Nominated Whitney Awards, Best Speculative Fiction, for The Well of Ascension
  • 2007 Nominated Whitney Awards, Best Youth Fiction, for Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
  • 2008 Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award, Best Epic Fantasy Novel Award, for The Hero of Ages
  • 2008 Whitney Awards, Best Speculative Fiction Award, for The Hero of Ages
  • 2009 Nominated Whitney Awards, Best Speculative Fiction, for Warbreaker
  • 2010 Whitney Awards, Best Speculative Fiction Award, for The Way of Kings
  • 2010 Whitney Awards, Best Novel of the Year Award, for The Way of Kings
  • 2011 David Gemmell Legend Award, for The Way of Kings
  • 2011 Whitney Awards, Best Speculative Fiction Award, for The Alloy of Law
  • 2013 Nominated Hugo Award, Best Novella, for The Emperor’s Soul

See Writing Excuses for additional awards and nominations.

Writing

Sanderson published his first novel, Elantris, through Tor Books on April 21, 2005, to generally positive reviews. Elantris tells the story of the cursed inhabitants of a once-great city who once wielded powerful magic. This was followed in 2006 by Mistborn: The Final Empire, the first book in his Mistborn fantasy trilogy. The Mistborn are "allomancers", or people who have the ability to "burn" various metals and alloys after ingesting them in order to enhance senses and allow control over powerful supernatural forces. He followed up in 2007 with a sequel, Mistborn: The Well of Ascension, which continues the story and delves into the origins of the mysterious and all-pervasive mist which enshrouds everything at night and even sometimes during the day.

His next work was the young adult novel Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians, about a boy named Alcatraz who has a unique gift: he’s very good at breaking things. He also has a group of evil librarians who are bent on taking over the world. In 2008, Sanderson released two science fiction short works, Firstborn and Defending Elysium, as well as the final book in the Mistborn trilogy (Mistborn: The Hero of Ages) and an Alcatraz sequel (Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener’s Bones).