Brandon Sanderson (Lincoln, Nebraska, December 19, 1975) is an American writer of fantasy and science fiction literature. He is best known for the fictional universe of Cosmere, in which most of his fantasy novels are set, including the series Mistborn and The Stormlight Archive. Outside of Cosmere, he has written several series for young adults and children, such as The Reckoners, the Skyward series, and the Alcatraz series. He is also known for completing Robert Jordan's high fantasy series The Wheel of Time. Sanderson has created several fantasy graphic novels, such as White Sand and Dark One.
He created Sanderson's Laws of Magic and popularized the idea of "hard magic" and "soft magic" systems. In 2008, Sanderson started a podcast with writer Dan Wells and cartoonist Howard Tayler called Writing Excuses, which discusses topics on genre writing and webcomics. In 2016, the American media company DMG Entertainment acquired the rights to all of Sanderson's Cosmere universe, but since then the rights have reverted back to Sanderson. Sanderson's Kickstarter campaign in March 2022 became the most successful in history, with 185,341 backers pledging 41,754,153 dollars.
Born in Nebraska, he is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) and currently resides in Provo (Utah), with his wife Emily whom he married on July 7, 2006. He earned a master's degree in Creative Writing in 2005 at Brigham Young University, where he was roommates with Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings. He has been nominated twice for the John W. Campbell Award.
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