Shannon Chakraborty

Shannon Ali Chakraborty (born December 7, 1985) is an American historical fantasy and speculative fiction writer based in Queens, New York, best known for The Daevabad Trilogy. Chakraborty's debut novel, The City of Brass, was highly acclaimed when it debuted in 2017 and was a finalist for the Locus, World Fantasy, Crawford, and Astounding awards."Yes, the first book in the series is the first book I ever wrote, which is really unusual," she says. "I worked really hard. And I got really lucky."

Chakraborty was born and raised in New Jersey to Catholic parents and converted to Islam in her teens; Chakraborty is her married name. She originally intended to be a historian specializing in the Middle East; however, the 2008 financial crisis derailed those plans, so while she worked to support herself and her husband, she also kept herself occupied by writing what she called "historical fan fiction." "I had felt spiritually disconnected from Catholicism and was drawn to Islam because of its focus on a direct, personal connection to God," she says. "When I read some of those verses for the first time, I experienced such intense solace and comfort that I wept."

At American University in Washington, D.C., Chakraborty studied international relations with a focus on Middle Eastern regions and culture, before graduating into the 2008 recession. Working long hours in an obstetrics and gynecology practice while her husband attended medical school and raising her first child, she began crafting The City of Brass as a world-building exercise to escape daily stress. Drawing deeply from her academic background in medieval Islamic history, Persian mythology, and folklore from One Thousand and One Nights, she created Daevabad - a hidden djinn city where ethnic divisions reflect historical conflicts.

The Daevabad Trilogy - comprising The City of Brass (2017), The Kingdom of Copper (2019), and The Empire of Gold (2020) - became an international phenomenon, earning comparisons to George R.R. Martin for palace intrigue and praised by authors including Sabaa Tahir as "the best adult fantasy I've read since The Name of the Wind." In May 2020, it was announced that Complete Fiction, a film and television company, would be developing The Daevabad Trilogy as a series for Netflix. The River of Silver (2022), a short story collection, expanded the universe with tales from beloved side characters.

Chakraborty's next trilogy, pitched as Ocean's Eleven meets Pirates of the Caribbean, is set in the 12th-century Indian Ocean. In the series debut, The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, an infamous retired pirate returns to her old profession when she is offered the chance to right a wrong from her past and gain a fabled treasure. It was published in February 2023 by Harper Voyager and debuted on the New York Times bestseller list. The sequel, The Tapestry of Fate, releases May 2026.

In regards to identity, Shannon is a white convert to Islam; a faith and community in which she's found great solace and one that has significantly influenced her work. At this point in her career, she prefers to keep her personal and family life private. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, daughter, and cats, spending her time buried in books about medieval seafarers, recreating complicated historical dishes, and researching what she calls a "makeshift PhD" in the lost history she once hoped to study formally.