Sarah J. Maas

Sarah J. Maas was born on March 5, 1986, in New York City, New York.[4][5] She grew up in the Upper West Side neighbourhood, Manhattan. As a child, she enjoyed creating stories based on popular tales or myths. Some of them being published in Throne of Glass.[6]

In 2008, Maas graduated magna cum laude from Hamilton College in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, where she majored in creative writing and minored in religious studies.[7]

Maas married her husband Josh in 2010.[8] She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, her son Taran, and her dog, Annie. Her son was born in June 2018. Maas met Josh on the first day of her freshman year of college.[1]

Maas began writing what would become her debut novel, Throne of Glass, when she was sixteen years old.[7][9] After writing several chapters of the novel, then titled Queen of Glass, Maas posted them on FictionPress.com, where it was one of the most popular stories on the site. It was later removed from the site when Maas decided to publish the novel.[9] The story line of the series is based on the story of Cinderella, with the premise of "What if Cinderella was not a servant, but an assassin? And what if she didn't attend the ball to meet the prince, but to kill him, instead?"[9][10] In 2008, Maas started sending the story to agents before signing with Tamar Rydzinski of The Laura Dial Literary Agency in 2009.[9] Throne of Glass was purchased in March 2010 by Bloomsbury, who later purchased two additional books in the series.[11] The series is available in 15 countries and 35 languages.[12][7] While several prequel novellas set two years before the first novel were also published, these were later condensed into one book, The Assassin's Blade.[13] The second book of the series, Crown of Midnight was a New York Times young adult best-seller.[4][14] The final book in the series, Kingdom of Ash, was released on October 23, 2018; the finished series comprised seven books.[12][8]

A Court of Thorns and Roses, Maas' second fantasy series, is a loose retelling of the traditional Beauty and the Beast.[15][16] The first book of the trilogy was written in 2009, but was not published until 2015. Due to the success and popularity of the original series, it was extended and a spin-off series was announced which would feature stories of other popular characters. The fourth book in the series and the first of the spin-offs, A Court of Silver Flames published on February 16, 2021.[17] The series is set to be adapted into a television series for Hulu.[18]

On May 16, 2018, Maas announced her third fantasy series which is also her first adult fantasy series, Crescent City. The first book, titled House of Earth and Blood, was released by Bloomsbury on March 3, 2020.[19][20] It was ranked one of the top twenty Science Fiction & Fantasy books of 2020 on Kobo.[21] The sequel, House of Sky and Breath, has a release date of February 15th, 2022.[22] She was ranked the fifth most popular author between 2016-2021 on Goodreads.[23]

In an interview with Writers & Artists, Maas told them that "Music—especially movie scores and classical music" is her inspiration of writing.[24] She continued on to say that Sabriel written by Garth Nix and The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley "kindled my love for reading fantasy and my desire to write it..."[24] Her character development has been lauded as one of her best qualities for storytelling, with morally grey characters and strong world building.[25]

Maas has mentioned that, "The sense of discovery is why I love writing so much. It’s a total thrill for me."[26]

The awards the author has received are as follows:

• Official website