SUZANNE COLLINS

Suzanne Collins, notorious for her action packed and somewhat romantic trilogy, The Hunger Games, has in fact accomplished much more than most would think. Born August 10th 1962, in Hartford, Connecticut she was welcomed into a military family. Being from a military family Collins was able to witness much more than the average person would, especially with her dad taking part in the Vietnam War. Being exposed to this side of things really helped Suzanne in writing her most successful series of books. Subjected to such a life style, Suzanne was able to relate what she learned when she was young to what was going on currently as she began her trilogy. The games that are included in the books themselves are mostly inspired by Collins’ love for Greek mythology. Furthermore, the names that she had chosen for the characters are famous Roman names, such as; Cato, Cinna, Portia, Octavia, and Flavia. Although the trilogy is known all around the world and loved by an enormous group of people, the American Library Association ranked the Hunger Games as the fifth most banned book for its violence and sexual connotations in 2010. Most High Schools now have the trilogy being used as in-class reading projects for freshman. “While receiving a large amount of heat and criticism for her trilogy, The Hunger Games, for the parallels between them and The Battle Royale written by the Japanese author Koushun Takami”, (Wikipedia) Collins was also acknowledged immensely, she was listed as most influential person in 2010 by Time Magazine. Throughout everything, the Trilogy became a big hit! When the first movie was released, which Collins also took a [art in writing, the movie made $155 million, making it the third largest opening of all time!
Most people, when reading The Hunger Games series, might think it was just an idea that came out of nowhere, when in all reality the books are based off of how realty TV shows and the news coverage on the Gulf War were all similar. Now-a-days it is very difficult for the average person to interpret the difference between reality and what is an imitation on TV. After graduating from Alabama School of Fine Arts High School, Collins attended Indiana University where she had a double major in theater and telecommunications. When Collins accomplished those goals she attended a second university, New York University where she achieved a Masters in Dramatic writing, M.F.A.
To the surprise of most, Collins does a lot more with her degrees than write chapter books for young adults. She has done a lot of screenplays for child television networks such as, Nickelodeon, she is famous for the, Clarissa Explains it All and the Little Bear series. But that isn’t all, she has also written many novelist fantasies, science fiction, and as stated above, screen plays as well as young adult chapter books.
So yes, The Hunger Games may have been Suzanne Collins’ big hit, but she has accomplished way more in her life than she is credited for. She is a children’s author, a young adult author, a screen play writer, science fiction author, and a fantasy author. All in all, Suzanne Collins is a very successful woman with a lot ahead of her, including the third movie from her trilogy which is being made in secrecy till 2015. Shhhh!

Works Cited
Wikipedia. The Hunger Games. n.d.