Darren Shan's real name is Darren O’Shaughnessy. He was born on July 2, 1972, in St. Thomas’ Hospital, London — directly across the river from the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, which may explain his fascination with evil bloodsuckers! Darren always wanted to be a writer, it was only in his teenage years that he began writing in his spare time for fun before that, he only wrote stories if they were for homework.

In January 2000 Darren's first children’s book, "Cirque du Freak", which he’d written as a fun side-project. The first book in a series titled "The Saga of Darren Shan" (or "Cirque du Freak" as it’s known in America), it attracted rave reviews and an ever-growing army of fans hungry to learn more about vampires which were quite unlike any that anyone had ever seen before!


​A.R. points:6