Shannon Hale is the Newbery Honor-winning and New York Times bestselling author of the Princess Academy series, The Books of Bayern , Book of a Thousand Days , Dangerous , and the graphic novels Rapunzel's Revenge and Calamity Jack , as well as the Ever After High and Princess in Black series, and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl for Marvel. She also wrote three novels for adults, including Austenland , now a major motion picture starring Keri Russell. She and her husband, the author Dean Hale, have four children and live near Salt Lake City, Utah. Marcela Cespedes , or Mace, as her friends call her, began stapling together sheets of paper to draw stories on them, from a very early age. Growing up, her love for comics never ceased to exist even when reading on road trips with her family would make her carsick. Her degree in Graphic Design and a subsequent Masters in Illustration have taken her to work in many creative industries such as advertising, animation, film, and publishing, where she finally brought together all her professional experiences withher love for books and graphic novels. Originally from Cali, Colombia, she currently resides between California and Wellington, New Zealand, getting the best of both hemispheres.