Susan Dennard

Susan Dennard (born February 25, 1984) is an American YA fantasy author. Her debut novel, Something Strange and Deadly, was published in 2012 by HarperCollins.

Biography Susan Dennard was born on February 25, 1984, in the state of Virginia, but primarily grew up in Dalton, Georgia. She originally planned to major in English at University of Georgia, but was "sidetracked by science" and obtained a bachelor's degrees in fisheries and statistics instead, and then received her master's in marine biology at the Great Lakes Institute for environmental research in Windsor, Ontario, with the intention of solving the problem of overfishing. This work led her around the world, to almost all of the seven continents, with the exception of Asia. and Strange and Ever After in July 2014. A Dawn Most Wicked, a prequel novella to the series, was published a month before the second title of trilogy in 2013.

The Something Strange and Deadly series is set in Philadelphia during the time of the 1876 World Fair while an army of the dead is plaguing the city. Eleanor Fitt, the 16-year-old protagonist, finds out during a zombie attack that her brother has been taken hostage. She takes on the quest to get him back, enlisting the aid of the city's outcast supernatural defense force, called Spirit-Hunters. and released in January 2016. It debuted at No. 4 on the New York Times' bestseller list. The protagonist Safiya, a truthwitch, along her best friend Iseult, a threadwitch who can sense the ties between other people, become caught up in a conspiracy between the empires. They take on the aid of Prince Merik, an admiral with the power to control wind, in hopes of avoiding the danger coming between the empires, while trying to elude the search of Aeduan, a bloodwitch soldier trained as a monk. The story follows these four characters as they try to find their paths and stay alive.

The second book, Windwitch, was published in January 2017. It debuted at No. 2 in the New York Times Bestseller List. She also contributed to Because You Love to Hate Me, an anthology of short stories written by thirteen YA authors who were paired with thirteen BookTubers. It was published in July 2017.

A prequel novella, Sightwitch, was published on February 13, 2018. It takes place before Truthwitch and tells the story of Ryber and Kullen, two of Merik's sailors. The third book in the series, Bloodwitch, was released on February 12, 2019, followed by the fourth book, Witchshadow, in 2021. In 2025, the finale of the series, Witchlight, was released.

Between Witchshadow and Witchlight's releases, Dennard published The Luminaries, a contemporary trilogy set in the haunted town of Hemlock Falls. Prior to the publishing, Dennard hosted a "choose your own adventure" story following Winnie, the protagonist of The Luminaries, on Twitter/X.

In 2025, The Executioners Three was published, a spooky historical fiction which had begun its life as a free story on Wattpad. Dennard announced her next book would be a mystery called Two For Joy.

Dennard also runs a blog and newsletter called "Misfits & Daydreamers," offering tips for helping aspiring authors write novels, find agents, and earn publishing deals. The guide articles involve steps for planning a novel, the revising process, the steps to expect when querying for an agent, and working with that agent to sell the book.

Adaptations On September 2, 2018, at Dragon Con panel attended by Dennard, it was announced that The Jim Henson Company would adapt the Witchlands series for television.