Charlaine Harris Schulz (born November 25, 1951) is an American author who specializes in mysteries.[3] She is best known for her book series The Southern Vampire Mysteries, which was adapted as the TV series True Blood. The television show was a critical and financial success for HBO, running seven seasons, from 2008 through 2014.[4]
Harris was born and raised in a small town in the Mississippi River Delta area of the United States. She lives in Texas with her husband; they have three children.[3] She began writing from an early age, and changed from playwriting in college to writing and publishing mysteries, including several long series featuring recurring characters.
Life and career
Harris was born and grew up in Tunica, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta. In her early work she wrote poems about ghosts and teenage angst. She began writing plays while attending Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. Her most recent mysteries have been in the urban fantasy genre.
After publishing two stand-alone mysteries, Harris began the lighthearted Aurora Teagarden books with Real Murders, nominated as a Best Novel 1990 for the Agatha Awards. Harris wrote several books in the series before the mid-1990s, when she began branching out into other works.[4] She did not resume the series until 1999, with the exception of one short story in a Murder, She Wrote anthology titled "Murder, They Wrote".
In 1996, Harris published the first in the Shakespeare series, featuring cleaning lady detective Lily Bard, set in rural Arkansas. At the time, a New York Times interview with Harris noted that she "live[d] in small-town Arkansas".[4] The fifth book in the series, Shakespeare's Counselor, was published in fall 2001, followed by the short story "Dead Giveaway", published in the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in December 2001. Harris has said she is finished with that series.
October 2005 marked the debut of Harris's new series, entitled Harper Connelly Mysteries, with the release of Grave Sight. The series is told by a young woman named Harper Connelly, who after being struck by lightning, is able to locate dead bodies and to see their last moments through the eyes of the deceased.[9] In October 2010, it was announced Harper Connelly's series had been optioned for a television series named Grave Sight.
Harris is a member of the Mystery Writers of America and the American Crime Writers League,[11] as well as a member of the board of Sisters in Crime, and alternated with Joan Hess as president of the Arkansas Mystery Writers Alliance until Hess' death in 2017.
Personal life
Harris has long been married. She and her husband have three grown children and two grandchildren.[4] She is a former weightlifter and karate student,[12] she is also an avid reader and cinemaphile. Harris formerly resided in Magnolia, Arkansas, where she was the senior warden of St. James Episcopal Church,[4][13] and as of 2017 lives in Texas.[14]
Many Bloody Returns (September 2007; co-editor with Toni LP Kelner)
Wolfsbane and Mistletoe (October 2008; co-editor with Toni LP Kelner)
Crimes by Moonlight (April 2010)
Death's Excellent Vacation[20] (August 2010; co-editor with Toni LP Kelner)
Home Improvement: Undead Edition (August 2011; co-editor with Toni LP Kelner)
An Apple for the Creature (September 2012; co-editor with Toni LP Kelner)
Adaptations
Television
Her series of novels The Southern Vampire Mysteries was adapted into the show True Blood. The series lasted seven seasons and totaled 80 episodes. It was nominated for dozens of awards. True Blood aired on HBO. The show was also the most viewed show on HBO since The Sopranos.[citation needed]
^ a bWright, Thea. "Biography of Charlaine Harris". Archived from the original on 15 September 2012. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
^ a bHarris, Charlaine. "Charlaine Harris: oBiography". Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
^ a b c d e f gDeborah Solomon, "Questions for Charlene Harris: Once Bitten: The writer talks about her 10th vampire novel and the hit TV series it inspired," New York Times Magazine, May 2, 2010, p. 18.
^ a b"Charlaine Harris – the Official Site of the #1 New York Times Best-Selling Author". Archived from the original on 2016-03-19. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
^ a b"After Dead: What Came Next in the World of Sookie Stackhouse – Charlaine Harris".
^"sfadb: Lord Ruthven Awards 2003". www.sfadb.com. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
^"sfadb: Lord Ruthven Awards 2018". www.sfadb.com. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
^"Charlaine Harris, author of Sookie Stackhouse books, is born – Nov 25, 1951 – HISTORY.com". HISTORY.com. Retrieved 2017-07-24.
^"Cemetery Girl: Book One - Books by Charlaine Harris - Penguin Group (USA)". Archived from the original on 2014-03-01. Retrieved 2014-01-09.
^American Crime Writers League Archived September 28, 2016, at the Wayback Machine.
^"Charlaine Harris: Putting the Bite on Cozy Mysteries" Archived March 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, retrieved on 2009-10-27.
^Shepard, Martha Hunter (Fall 2007). "Charlaine Harris: Dead-On Author". Rhodes Magazine. Rhodes College. Archived from the original on 2008-12-02. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
^"Charlaine Harris (1951–)". Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
^ a b c d e f gA Southern Vampire story without the character of Sookie Stackhouse.