Alexandra Bracken

Early life

Alexandra Bracken was raised in Scottsdale, Arizona. She recently moved back to Arizona from New York City, New York, where she lived for many years and worked in the children publishing industry, first as an editorial assistant, then in marketing. After six years, she took the plunge and decided to write full time. She graduated from Chaparral High School in 2005 and attended The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, graduating magna cum laude with a degree in History and English in May 2009.

Career

Bracken wrote her first unpublished novel over her freshman year of college, and began Brightly Woven as a birthday present for her friend during her sophomore year, when she was nineteen years old. In their review of the book, Publishers Weekly dubbed Bracken "a debut author to watch." Her debut placed third in the 2010 GoodReads Choice Awards for Best Debut Author.

In 2012, Disney Hyperion published the near-future, Young Adult thriller The Darkest Minds, the first book in the series of the same name. The series focuses on Ruby, a 16-year-old girl with special abilities that she has only just begun to understand. She breaks out of a "rehabilitation camp" in which she has been imprisoned and teams up with a rag-tag group of fellow camp escapees to find the Slip Kid, a leader who offers shelter to young people in danger and who possesses the secret to controlling one’s powers. The title of the first novel and the series was changed from Black is the Color to The Darkest Minds in November 2011.

In October 2013, the 2nd installment of "The Darkest Minds" series, "Never Fade" released. This book continues to follow the main character Ruby in her battle with her abilities and the government that is trying to control her. Ruby is now in the "Children's League" at the start of this book, but soon abandons them to find the truth about the disease that killed most of America's children. She battles herself in this book as she is torn between old friends and her loyalty to the League.

In October 2014, the conclusion to the series "The Darkest Minds" trilogy, "In the Afterlight was released. Ruby and the kids that survived the government's attack on Los Angeles, start traveling North. While traveling they are harboring a highly dangerous prisoner, the unpredictable Clancy Gray. Ruby's mission now is to free the many kids that are still in the "rehabilitation camps" all across the United States. This book finishes this exciting trilogy.

Film rights have been optioned by Twentieth Century Fox with Shawn Levy to produce under his 21 Laps banner with Billy Rosenberg and Missy Foster overseeing development.

On November 13, 2014, it was announced that Bracken had been tapped to author Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope: The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farmboy, a novelization of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Bracken replaces R.J. Palacio, author of Wonder, who had been slated to write this novelization, but had to drop out due to a scheduling conflict.

In January 2016, Bracken's new book "Passenger" was released. This story follows Etta Spencer, a violin prodigy, who in one devastating night she loses everything she knows and loves. She get thrust into an unfamiliar world with a stranger. She inherits a legacy and travels not just miles, but years from home. This story also follows Nicholas Carter who is content with his life at sea, free from a family, he is trying to avoid. But with the arrival on an unusual passenger on his ship, he realizes he can not escape the past and the family who won't let him go so easily. Both Etta and Nicholas embark on a journey across continents and centuries, piecing together clues. But as they get closer to the truth, the two are threatened to be separated from each other and their path from home.

January 2017, the sequel to "Passenger", "Wayfarer" was released. This book continues the story of Etta and Nicholas. Now robbed of the powerful object that was the only hope to save her mother, Etta is stranded again, cut off from Nicholas, the one she loves and natural time. Etta stumbles into the heart of the Thorns, renegade travelers who stole the astroblade from her, she vows to destroy it once and for all. Etta must choose a path, that could transform her future. Nicholas is still devastated by Etta's disappearance, he enlist help to track her and the astroblade down. As they travel change the timeline, they discover ancient power that threatens to eradicate the timeline altogether. This book travels through time and concludes the "Passenger" series.