Cassandra Clare - Children's Author

Cassandra Clare was born to American parents in Teheran, Iran and spent much of her childhood travelling the world with her family, including one trek through the Himalayas as a toddler where she spent a month living in her father's backpack. She lived in France, England and Switzerland. Since her family moved around so much she found familiarity in books and went everywhere with a book under her arm. Her favourites included the work of the Bront' sisters and Tolkien, as well as the Chronicles of Narnia, Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles and Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series. She spent her high school years in Los Angeles where she used to write stories to amuse her classmates, including an epic novel called The Beautiful Cassandra based on the eponymous Jane Austen short story (and from which she later took her current pen name).

After college, at which she majored in literature, Cassandra lived in Los Angeles and New York where she worked at various entertainment magazines and even some rather suspect tabloids where she reported on Brad and Angelina's world travels and Britney Spears' wardrobe malfunctions. She started working on her first novel, City of Bones, in 2004, inspired by the urban landscape of Manhattan, her favourite city. She turned to writing fantasy fiction full time in 2006 and hopes never to have to write about Paris Hilton again.

Cassandra's first piece of professional writing, a short story called 'The Girl's Guide to Defeating the Dark Lord', appeared in an anthology of humour fantasy. She hates working at home alone because she always gets distracted by reality TV shows and the antics of her two cats, so she usually sets out to write in local coffee shops and restaurants. Cassandra likes to work in the company of her friends who see that she sticks to her deadlines. She loves writing humour and fantasy and hopes to try her hand at horror and science fiction some day.

Things you didn't know about Cassandra Clare

1. I only type with two fingers.

2. I once interviewed the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

3. I have two cats, Linus and Lucy. Linus is huge and Lucy is tiny, so if you averaged them out, you would have one normal cat.

4. I have a scuba diving certificate but I never dive due to my fear of sharks.

5. I often get distracted listening to audio books on my iPod, then realize I am lost and have no idea where I am.

6. My favourite food is sushi.

7. I hate coffee but I like tea.

8. I was once taken in by an internet scam offering to sell me a penguin.

9. My dream is to have a library in my house, so big that it requires ladders to get to the tallest shelves.

10. As a child I wanted to be a windsurfing instructor and live in Tahiti.

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Featured Books, with extracts by Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Princess
Cassandra Clare
April 2013 Book of the Month  Passion. Power. Secrets. Enchantment.  Danger intensifies for the Shadowhunters as the New York Times bestselling Infernal Devices trilogy comes to a close. Clockwork Princess is the third in the brilliant Infernal Devices series which began...
Featured in: 14+ readers | Books of the Month
Format: Paperback - Released: 19/03/2013
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City of Lost Souls
Cassandra Clare
Clary and the Shadowhunters struggle to piece together their shattered world after a betrayal by one of their own leaves them reeling. This title is fifth in the international bestselling paranormal thriller series The Mortal Instruments and is the...
Featured in: 14+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 06/09/2012
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City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments 5)
Cassandra Clare
May 2012 Book of the Month. Clary and the Shadowhunters struggle to piece together their shattered world after a betrayal by one of their own leaves them reeling. This title is fifth in the international bestselling paranormal thriller series The Mortal...
Featured in: 14+ readers | Books of the Month
Format: Paperback - Released: 08/05/2012
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Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices 2)
Cassandra Clare
May 2012 Book of the Month. In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, while her desire for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is...
Featured in: 14+ readers | Books of the Month
Format: Paperback - Released: 03/05/2012
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Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices 2)
Cassandra Clare
This title is second in the New York Times bestselling urban fantasy series set in Victorian London. The first book in the series, Clockwork Angel, debuted at number one on the New York Times Bestseller list and spent ten...
Featured in: 14+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 06/12/2011
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The Mortal Instruments Gift Set
Cassandra Clare
This is a gorgeous box set of the first three books in The Mortal Instruments series, which has been a massive hit in both the UK and the US. Who better to wax lyrical over it than none other...
Featured in: 14+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 06/10/2011
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City of Fallen Angels
Cassandra Clare
The Mortal War is over and sixteen-year-old Clary Fray is back home in New York excited about all the possibilities before her. She's training to become a Shadowhunter and - most importantly of all - she can finally call Jace...
Featured in: 14+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 01/09/2011
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City of Fallen Angels (The Mortal Instruments 4)
Cassandra Clare
Love, blood, betrayal and revenge - the stakes are higher than ever in the fourth book in the bestselling Mortal Instruments sequence.  The Mortal Instruments series has over one million books in print. It has been on the New York...
Featured in: 14+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 04/04/2011
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Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices 1)
Cassandra Clare
This deservedly best-selling series launches with a powerful love story that thrills and chills in equal measure. Sailing from New York, 16 year old Tessa Gray arrives in Victorian London to meet her brother. But nothing goes according to plan...
Featured in: 14+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 03/03/2011
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City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments 3)
Cassandra Clare
This title is the third installment in the bestselling urban gothic fantasy sequence, The Mortal Instruments.  With two of the Mortal Instruments now in Valentine's hands, the world of the Shadowhunters teeters on the brink of civil war. Jace and...
Featured in: 14+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 22/06/2009
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City Of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments 2)
Cassandra Clare
We were bowled over by Cassandra’s first, City of Bones and from the feedback from readers you clearly were too. This is the second in The Mortal Instruments series and doesn’t disappoint. Utterly captivating, beautifully written, cleverly plotted with...
Featured in: 11+ readers | 14+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 07/07/2008
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City Of Bones (The Mortal Instruments 1)
Cassandra Clare
A thrilling urban fantasy of vampires, warlocks and shapeshifters that fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer will love to get their teeth into. Clary is your typical girl next door character that everyone wants to like and with whom...
Featured in: 14+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 02/07/2007
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