Suzanne Collins began her professional career writing for children’s television. She worked on the staffs of several Nickelodeon shows, including the Emmy-nominated hit Clarissa Explains it All and The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo. (via Web)
Author Profile
Birth date: August 10, 1962 Birthplace: Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. Genre: Fantasy, science fiction, children’s literature, young adult fiction Spouse: Charles Pryor Children: 2 Education: Indiana University, Bloomington (BA), New York University (MFA)
Interesting Facts
Suzanne Collins comes from a military family. Her father served in Vietnam when she was a child and he went on to make lieutenant colonel, her grandfather was gassed in World War I and her uncle was injured in World War II.
She worked for Nickelodeon on several shows, including Clarissa Explains It All and The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo.
As a result of her screenwriting background, she finds dialogue easier to write than descriptive passages.
When writing The Hunger Games Collins knew from the beginning that she was going to have to kill characters. She says this is a horrible thing to have to do and she hates writing death scenes.
Featured Books
Notable Characters Created
+ Katniss Everdeen
Nicknames: Catnip, Sweetheart, Girl on Fire Aliases: The Girl on Fire, The Mockingjay Gender: Female Titles: Victor of the 74th Hunger Games, Tribute from District 12 Family: Mr. Everdeen, Mrs. Everdeen, Primrose Everdeen Spouse: Peeta Mellark Weapon: Bow and Arrow, Knife, Snares
When she was 16, Katniss volunteered to take her sister, Primrose Everdeen’s place in the 74th Hunger Games after Prim’s name was called during the reaping. Originally, she had no intention of going into the games, hoping she wouldn’t be picked before the female tribute was chosen. It had not even crossed her mind, but, when her sister was picked, she volunteered to save her, in hopes that she could actually win. The male tribute was from the town bakery, Peeta Mellark, who had once risked a beating to save Katniss and her family from starvation by gifting them some burnt bread.
+ Effie Trinket
Occupation: Escort, Advisor to Katniss Everdeen Home: The Capitol, District 13 Gender: Female Height: 5’6″
Effie works as the escort for District 12, particularly to Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark in The Hunger Games trilogy. Her responsibilities include drawing the Hunger Games tributes’ names every year at reapings and subsequently escorting them to the Capitol via a train which she says travels at a speed of 250 mph. She is very well known for her Capitol accent, upbeat attitude for the Games and the Capitol phrase, “May the odds be ever in your favor!”
Effie tries to encourage tributes to be happy about their upcoming participation in the Games, through her efforts are mostly in vain. When Katniss volunteered to take her twelve-year-old sister’s place when her name was pulled during the 74th Hunger Games reaping, the audience remained silent and Effie was left on stage clapping by herself in an effort to lighten the atmosphere.
+ Peeta Mellark
Occupation: Victor, Tribute, Baker, Soldier, Painter Home: Victors’ Village in District 12, The Capitol & District 13 Gender: Male Height: 5’7” Spouse: Katniss Everdeen Weapons: Weights , Camouflage , Knives , Machete, Spears, Strength
Peeta Mellark, a baker’s son from District 12, is one of the main characters of the The Hunger Games trilogy. He is a very compassionate person and is good with words. He has been in love with Katniss Everdeen since the age of 5, but never confessed his feelings until he was reaped alongside her for the 74th Hunger Games.
He and Katniss play out a romance in the arena in order to garner sponsors and manage to both become victors by tricking the Gamemakers. Although his feelings are genuine, he is hurt to discover that Katniss’ were not entirely.
