Cassandra Clare Biography Essay

Cassandra Clare has always had a love for books, yet she didn’t publish her first book until her mid-thirties. Her first book “City of Bones” was published in 2007, since then she has published over twenty more books. Cassandra Clare’s late start to writing, unique writing style, and a massive collection of books in a short amount of time, explains how her unexpected fame came to be.

Cassandra Clare’s real name is Judith Rumlet. She was born July 27, 1973, in Tehran Iran. She spent most of her early childhood traveling with her family. Clare said that this was one reason for her love of books and “went everywhere with a book under her arm.”(Cassandra Clare’s bio). She had already lived in France, England, and Switzerland by the time she was ten years old. Her teenage years were spent in Los Angeles. She would write stories for her classmates; including “The Beautiful Cassandra” which later inspired her pen name. After graduating, Clare went to New York to attend Barnard College and majored in English. She begins working at various entertainment magazines where she gains experience in editing. 

Clare often wrote fanfiction which was mainly based on Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. So while she did have writing experience, she didn't publish her first book until 2007, “City of Bones.” Even after its publication, Cassandra Clare didn’t become popular until her third book in the Mortal Instrument series, “City of Glass.” From there, her rise to fame was a steep hill. Her first book signing only had about a dozen people; her third book brought in almost a thousand. In 2006 she decided to quit her day job and become a full-time writer.

Since the publication of her first book “City of Bones” in 2007, Cassandra Clare has written over twenty more books. Some call her a “Powerhouse” writer, as she usually publishes two books in a year. “City of Bones” was the first book in the Mortal Instruments series. It was soon followed by “City of Ashes”, “City of Glass”, “City of Fallen Angels”, “City of Lost Souls”, and the finale “City of Heavenly Fire”. This particular series of hers follows the life of Clarissa Fray as she discovers a life she had no idea existed, or that she would have a big role to play. While this was the first series she wrote, it is the third series of her planned five in the “Shadow Hunter Chronicles”.

Between writing “City of Glass” and “City of Fallen Angels”, Clare published “Clockwork Angel” the first book in her new series “The infernal Devices”. “The Infernal Devices” is the first series of the “Shadow Hunter Chronicles”, and it takes place before “The Mortal Instruments” in the year 1878. Then she skips to the year 1903, where her second series “The Last Hours” take place; this series includes three books “Chain of Gold”, “Chain of Thorns”, and “Chain of Iron.” Her fourth series “The Dark Artifices” takes place after “The Mortal Instruments” in the year 2012. Her final series,” The Elder Curses” takes place soon after the fourth. 

While writing the “Shadow Hunter Chronicles” Cassandra also wrote other books. Some pertaining to the shadow hunter universe and other’s a collaboration with other authors. “The Shadow Hunter Codex” was a collaboration with her husband, Joshua Lewis. It was a book that included all the “rules” of a shadow hunter. “The Bane Chronicles” is a story that revolves around Magnus Bane, one of the main characters of “The Shadow Hunter Chronicles”. It was a collaboration with Maureen Johnson and Sarah Rees Brennan. Including multiple other books that Clare has worked on, “The Mortal Instruments” was made into a movie and TV series. The TV series “Shadowhunters” premiered in 2016 and has three seasons so far. Not only has Clare entered the entertainment industry, but she has also released a few graphic novels of her books. 

As you can see Cassandra Clare made quite a domain for herself. Not only did she write over twenty books, but she also has a TV series after one of her main series and a few graphic novels. While she might have had a late start to her writing business, she has created a new world that has reached many different audiences.