Ransom Riggs (born February 3, 1979) is an American writer and filmmaker best known for the book ''

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children ''Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children'' is a contemporary fantasy debut novel by American author Ransom Riggs. The story is told through a combination of narrative and a mix of vernacular and found photography from the personal archiv ...

''.

Early life and education

Riggs was born in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...

in 1979 on a 200-year-old farm, and grew up in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

, where he attended Pine View School for the Gifted. He studied

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

Kenyon College Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is s ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

, where he was a good friend of

John Green John Michael Green (born August 24, 1977) is an American author, YouTube content creator, podcaster, and philanthropist. His books have more than 50 million copies in print worldwide, including '' The Fault in Our Stars'' (2012), which is ...

. He later studied film at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

Career

His work on short films for the Internet and blogging for ''

Mental Floss ''Mental Floss'' (stylized as ''mental_floss'') is an online magazine and its related American digital, print, and e-commerce media company focused on millennials. It is owned by Minute Media and based in New York City, United States. mentalfloss ...

'' got him a job writing ''The Sherlock Holmes Handbook'' which was released as a

tie-in A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original prop ...

to the 2009 ''

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

'' film. Riggs had collected curious vernacular photographs and approached his publisher,

Quirk Books Quirk Books is an American independent book publisher based in Philadelphia. History Before 2002, Quirk Books was a creative studio that would pitch novel ideas to other publishers. Quirk Books was founded as a publishing company in 2002 by Da ...

, about using some of them in a

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...

. On the suggestion of an editor, Riggs used the photographs as a guide from which to put together a narrative. The resulting book was ''Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children'', which made The ''New York Times'' Best Seller list, and was adapted into the 2016 film of the same name. Another book inspired by old photographs, ''Talking Pictures'', was published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News C ...

in October 2012. The second novel in the ''Miss Peregrine'' series, '' Hollow City'', was released in January 2014, with the third installment, ''

Library of Souls ''Library of Souls'' is a sequel to 2014 novel '' Hollow City'' written by Ransom Riggs and third book in the series of '' Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children''. It was released on September 22, 2015 by Quirk Books Quirk Books is an ...

'', following in September 2015. A spin-off book of short stories, ''Tales of the Peculiar'', was released in September 2016. The fourth novel in the series, ''

A Map of Days ''A Map of Days'' is a sequel to 2015 novel ''Library of Souls'' written by Ransom Riggs and fourth book in the series of ''Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children ''Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children'' is a contemporary fantasy d ...

'', was released in October 2018. The fifth novel in the series, ''The Conference of the Birds'', was released in January 2020. The sixth, ''The Desolations of Devil's Acre'', was released on February 23, 2021.

Personal life

Riggs married author

Tahereh Mafi Tahereh Mafi (November 9, 1988) is an American author based in Santa Monica, California. She is known for writing young adult fiction. Early life Mafi was born on November 9, 1988, in a small town in Connecticut. She is the youngest child of he ...

in 2013. They lived in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...

and later moved to

Irvine, California Irvine () is a master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on December 28, 197 ...

. Their first child, a daughter, Layla, was born on May 30, 2017.

Works

Young adult novels

Miss Peregrine series

* ''

'' (2011) * '' Hollow City'' (2014) * ''

'' (2015) * ''Tales of the Peculiar'' (2016), short stories collection * ''

'' (2018) * ''The Conference of the Birds'' (2020) * ''The Desolations of Devil's Acre'' (2021) * “''Miss Peregrine’s Museum of Wonders: An Indispensable Guide to the Dangers and Delights of the Peculiar World for the Instruction of New Arrivals''” (2022)

Stand-alone

* ''Arcanum'' (2015)

Comics

Miss Peregrine series

*''Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children: The Graphic Novel'' (2011), with Cassandra Jean * ''Hollow City: The Graphic Novel'' (2016), with Cassandra Jean

Non-fiction

* ''The Sherlock Holmes Handbook: The Methods and Mysteries of the World's Greatest Detective'' (2009), guide * ''Talking Pictures: Images and Messages Rescued from the Past'' (2012), photographies

Adaptations

* ''

'' (2016), film directed by

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as '' Beetlejuice'' (1988), '' Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), '' The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993 ...

, based on young adult novel ''

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Riggs, Ransom 1979 births Living people American male writers American male novelists Kenyon College alumni Writers from Florida Writers from Maryland People from Irvine, California Novelists from California USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni