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Brandon Sanderson
Photo: Niccolò Caranti, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons25

Brandon Sanderson

American fiction writer (born 1975)

Brandon Winn Sanderson (born December 19, 1975) is an American author of high fantasy, science fiction, and young adult books. His best known novels include the Mistborn series and The Stormlight Archive, which are set in the "Cosmere", a fictional universe.2

From Wikipedia’s article on Brandon Sanderson (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Dec 19, 1975.1

About

Outside of the Cosmere, he has written several young adult and juvenile series including The Reckoners, the Skyward series, and the Alcatraz series. He is also known for finishing author Robert Jordan's high fantasy series The Wheel of Time. Sanderson has created two graphic novels, White Sand and Dark One.

He is credited with coining Sanderson's Laws of Magic, which popularized the idea of "hard" and "soft" magic systems.

In 2008, Sanderson started a creative writing podcast with the horror writer Dan Wells and the cartoonist Howard Tayler called Writing Excuses. In mid-2022, Sanderson and Wells started another podcast, Intentionally Blank, which is focused on writing and pop culture.

Sanderson's writing has received numerous nominations and awards. He has been noted for his prolific level of writing output, having written 71 books as of 2023, several of which have topped The New York Times best seller list. Sanderson's March 2022 Kickstarter campaign to self-publish four novels became one of the most successful in history, finishing with 185,341 backers pledging US$41,754,153. In January 2026, Apple TV purchased the film and television rights to Sanderson's Cosmere universe, in a deal which gives Sanderson extensive creative control over the content.

From Wikipedia’s article on Brandon Sanderson, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Early life and education

  • Date not recordedLincoln East High School3
  • Date not recordedBrigham Young University3

Early life

Sanderson was born on December 19, 1975, in Lincoln, Nebraska, the eldest of four children born to Barbara and Winn Sanderson. Sanderson was raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS church). As a child he was a "reluctant reader" but became a passionate reader of fantasy in his teens after a teacher gave him a copy of Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly. He made several early attempts at writing his own stories.

Education

After graduating from high school in 1994, he went to Brigham Young University (BYU) and majored in biochemistry. He took a two-year leave of absence from 1995 to 1997 to serve as a volunteer LDS missionary and was assigned to serve in South Korea. According to Sanderson, his experience with Korean language and linguistics helped him build the magic system for Elantris, his first published novel.

In 1997, Sanderson returned to BYU and changed his major to English literature. While an undergraduate, Sanderson took a job as a night auditor at a local hotel in Provo, Utah, which allowed him to write while working. One of Sanderson's roommates at BYU was Ken Jennings (famous for his appearance on the show Jeopardy! and as the host since 2021). He graduated in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts. He continued on as a graduate student, receiving an M.A. in English with an emphasis in creative writing in 2004. Sanderson's honors thesis, Dragonsteel, was the first in BYU's history to be rebound as it was being read so frequently by students at the university library. While at BYU, Sanderson was on the staff of Leading Edge, a semi-professional speculative fiction magazine published by the university, and served as its editor-in-chief during 2001.

From Wikipedia’s article on Brandon Sanderson (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: short story writer, author, teacher, novelist, writer.7

Known for: The Stormlight Archive, Cosmere, The Reckoners, Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians, Skyward series, Warbreaker, Rithmatist series, Mistborn, Elantris, Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection.8 9

Early writing career

Sanderson wrote consistently throughout his undergraduate and graduate studies; by 2003, he had written twelve novels, though no publisher had accepted any of them for publication. While in the middle of a graduate program at BYU, he was contacted by Tor Books editor Moshe Feder, who wanted to acquire one of his books. Sanderson had submitted the manuscript of his sixth novel, Elantris, a year and a half earlier. Elantris was published by Tor Books on April 21, 2005, to generally positive reviews. This was followed in 2006 by Mistborn: The Final Empire, the first book in his Mistborn fantasy trilogy, in which "allomancers"—people with the ability to "burn" metals and alloys after ingesting them—gain enhanced senses and control over powerful supernatural forces.

He published the second book of the Mistborn series, The Well of Ascension, in 2007. Later that year, Sanderson published the children's novel Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians, about a boy named Alcatraz with a talent for breaking things. Alcatraz confronts a group of evil librarians who are bent on taking over the world. The first of his "Laws of Magic" was first published in 2007, with the second and third published in 2012 and 2013 (respectively). In 2008, the third and final book in the Mistborn trilogy was published, titled The Hero of Ages, as well as the second book in the Alcatraz series, titled Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones. That same year, he started the podcast Writing Excuses with Howard Tayler and Dan Wells. In 2009, Tor Books published Warbreaker, which originally appeared serially on Sanderson's website while he was writing the novel from 2006 to 2009. In the same year, the third Alcatraz book was published, titled Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia.

The Wheel of Time

Sanderson rose to prominence in late 2007 when Harriet McDougal, the wife and editor of author Robert Jordan, chose Sanderson to complete the final books in Jordan's epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time after Jordan's death. McDougal asked Sanderson to finish the series after being deeply impressed by his first Mistborn novel, The Final Empire. Tor Books made the announcement on December 7, 2007. After reviewing what was necessary to complete the series, Sanderson and Tor announced on March 30, 2009, that a final three books would be published instead of just one.

The first of these, The Gathering Storm, was published on October 27, 2009, and reached the number-one spot on the New York Times bestseller list for hardcover fiction. Towers of Midnight, the second-to-last The Wheel of Time book, was published just over a year after The Gathering Storm on November 2, 2010, debuting at number one on the bestseller list. In early 2013, the series was completed with the publication of A Memory of Light.

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2010s

In 2010, Sanderson published The Way of Kings, the first of a planned ten-book series called The Stormlight Archive. It achieved the number seven slot on the New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list. The fourth Alcatraz novel, Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens, followed soon after.

In October 2011, he finished a novella e-book, Infinity Blade: Awakening, based on the action role-playing, iOS video game Infinity Blade, developed by Chair Entertainment and Epic Games. In November 2011, he published a sequel to the Mistborn trilogy, Mistborn: The Alloy of Law. It was originally planned as a standalone novel set about 300 years after the original trilogy, but it was later expanded into a four-book series. It debuted at number nine on the combined print and e-book New York Times Best Seller list.

On August 31, 2012, Sanderson published a science fiction novella entitled Legion, followed by another short work titled The Emperor's Soul. In 2013, Sanderson published two new young adult series, The Rithmatist and The Reckoners. In March 2014, Words of Radiance, the second book in The Stormlight Archive, was published.

Later that year, Subterranean Press published the second novella in the Legion series, Legion: Skin Deep. It was a preliminary nominee for the 2015 Hugo Awards, but did not make the final ballot. In January 2015, the second book of The Reckoners, titled Firefight, was published. Firefight won the 2015 Whitney Award in the Best Young Adult—Speculative category. It also placed eighth in the Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction category of the Goodreads Choice Awards and was a finalist for the 2015 AML Award in the Young Adult Novel category.

Nine months later, Sanderson published Mistborn: Shadows of Self as a direct sequel to The Alloy of Law. The novel won the 2017 Neffy Award in the Best Novel category, placed third in the 2015 Goodreads Choice Awards in the Fantasy category, was a finalist in the Best Speculative Fiction category of the 2015 Whitney Awards, and was a preliminary nominee for the 2016 Gemmell Legend Award. On November 16, 2015, Sanderson's agency (JABberwocky Literary Agency) announced that Sanderson had officially sold over 7 million copies worldwide.

On January 26, 2016, Mistborn: The Bands of Mourning was published as the sequel to Shadows of Self. On February 16, 2016, the third and final book of the Reckoners trilogy, titled Calamity, was published. In June 2016, Sanderson's first graphic novel, White Sand—written with Rik Hoskin—was released. The series is planned as a trilogy. The graphic novels are based on an original manuscript by Sanderson. On September 6, 2016, the fifth Alcatraz book was published, called Alcatraz Versus the Dark Talent.

DMG Entertainment optioned the Cosmere in 2016 for film and television. On November 22, 2016, an anthology of Cosmere short stories and novellas was published, titled Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection. The third book in The Stormlight Archive, Oathbringer, was published on November 14, 2017. The first book of the Defiant series, Skyward, was published on November 6, 2018. The second book in the series, Starsight, was released on November 26, 2019.

2020s

In September 2020, a collaboration project with author Mary Robinette Kowal, called The Original, was released. Rhythm of War, the fourth Stormlight novel, was published on November 17, 2020. In 2020, Sanderson's agency updated his number of copies sold to over 18 million worldwide, in early 2021 to over 21 million, and in late 2025 to over 50 million.

In March 2021, Sanderson announced a "Weekly Update" on his YouTube channel which would give updates on his current projects every week. On May 26, he revealed the title and cover for Cytonic, the third book of his Skyward series, which was published on November 23, 2021. Sanderson started a new podcast in June 2021 called Intentionally Blank, with friend and fellow science fiction author Dan Wells.

Sanderson announced in March 2022 that, over the previous two pandemic years, he had secretly written five otherwise-unannounced books (four full adult novels and a shorter junior novel). The full novels (three of which are set in the Cosmere) were made available through a Kickstarter subscription that released them quarterly through 2023. The Kickstarter campaign was highly successful, raising $15 million in its first 24 hours and over $20 million within three days, becoming the all-time most successful campaign. The Kickstarter campaign finished with 185,341 backers pledging $41,754,153. The 4 "Secret Novel Projects" released in the campaign was: #1 Tress of the Emerald Sea, #2 The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, #3 Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, #4 The Sunlit Man. Before the conclusion of his Kickstarter campaign, Sanderson also backed every other publishing project on Kickstarter, for a total of 316 projects. In March 2024, Sanderson announced a further 'secret project' novel set for a 2025 release.

Sanderson also collaborated with Unknown Worlds Entertainment to create the lore and setting for the video game Moonbreaker, which was released via early access in September 2022.

The "biggest release the [fantasy] genre has seen in years" came about in December 2024 with the unveiling of Wind and Truth. This is Sanderson's fifth and final book in the first arc of The Stormlight Archive. Sanderson projects there will be at least five more books in the series, but the printing of these novels is not expected until 2031.

On January 28, 2026, it was reported that Apple TV has secured development rights for screen adaptations of works by Sanderson, focusing initially on two major series from his Cosmere universe. The agreement seeks to develop feature films based on the Mistborn series and a television series adaptation of The Stormlight Archive, both of which are among Sanderson’s most commercially successful and widely read works. The deal is described as significant within the industry because it grants Sanderson an unusually high degree of creative involvement: he is expected to write, produce, consult on the adaptations, and retain approval rights over key production elements. Production roles have begun to take shape for The Stormlight Archive television project, with the production company Blue Marble Pictures attached and executive producer Theresa Kang linked to the series.

From Wikipedia’s article on Brandon Sanderson (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Personal life

  • BornDec 19, 1975, Lincoln10
  • CitizenshipUnited States11

Adult life

In 2006, Sanderson married Emily Bushman in the Mount Timpanogos Utah LDS Temple. Emily was an English, Spanish, and ESL teacher, and is a fellow BYU alumna. She later became the business manager for Dragonsteel Entertainment, Sanderson's company. They have three sons and reside in American Fork, Utah. As of 2022, Sanderson was serving as a Sunday School teacher in his LDS ward.

From Wikipedia’s article on Brandon Sanderson (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Awards

  • 2022Audie Award for Fantasy for Rhythm of War12
  • 2018Dragon Award for Best Fantasy Novel for Oathbringer12
  • 2015Audie Award for Fantasy for Words of Radiance12 16
  • 2013Hugo Award for Best Novella for The Emperor's Soul12 13
  • 2013Hugo Award for Best Related Work for Writing Excuses12 15
  • 2013Imaginales award for best foreign-language novel for Mistborn: The Alloy of Law12 14
  • 2007Whitney Awards12

Sources

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