Terry Brooks

Terence Dean Brooks (born January 8, 1944) is an American writer of fantasy fiction. He writes mainly epic fantasy, and has also written two film novelizations. He has written 23 New York Times bestsellers during his writing career, and has sold over 25 million copies of his books in print. He is one of the most successful living fantasy writers. In March 2025, he announced his semi-retirement from writing.

Early life Brooks was born in the rural Midwestern town of Sterling, Illinois, and spent a large part of his life living there. He is an alumnus of Hamilton College, earning his B.A. in English literature in 1966. as well as at the Charlotte Literary Festival that he credits the inspiration of his style of writing to William Faulkner's works.

A television series based on the Shannara works, entitled The Shannara Chronicles, began showing on MTV in January 2016. The show starts with the second book of the original series, Elfstones, as there are strong female roles which did not appear in the first book. The second season aired in 2017 on Spike TV. On January 16, 2018, it was announced that the series had been cancelled after two seasons. Producers later announced that the series is being shopped to other networks.

Brooks has written a number of other books, based on movies, science fiction and his own life. Novels include Hook, based on the movie of the same name, first published November 24, 1991, and republished in 1998. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace was published April 21, 1999, with four differing dust jacket covers. His own writing life is reflected in two stories, Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life, published February 3, 2004, and Why I Write About Elves published in 2005. A science fiction book, Street Freaks, was released on October 2, 2018. Brooks has written a number of e-book short stories which are published in a book titled Small Magic with his other short stories.

Brooks received a World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2017. He won an Inkpot Award in 1997. He was also nominated for six Locus Awards. He connected with Delilah Dawson, a well-established fantasy author, in order to continue the Shannara series.

Personal life Brooks resides in Seattle, Washington, with his wife, Judine.

Works