Darren Shan

Darren O'Shaughnessy (born 2 July 1972) is an Irish writer who publishes as Darren Shan. He was born at St Thomas' Hospital in London, moved with his family to Limerick at the age of six, and has lived in Ireland since; he studied sociology and English at Roehampton University in London before writing full time.

His first children's book, Cirque du Freak, was published in January 2000 and began The Saga of Darren Shan, a twelve-book vampire sequence narrated by a boy who shares the author's pen name. A manga adaptation ran from 2006 to 2009, and a film, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, followed in 2009.

He went on to write The Demonata (2005-2009), the prequel quartet The Saga of Larten Crepsley (2010-2012), the twelve-book Zom-B series (2012-2016) and the Archibald Lox books (2020-2022), alongside the standalone titles Koyasan, Hagurosan, The Thin Executioner and Lady of the Shades.

By 2021 his books were selling in 40 countries and 32 languages and had passed thirty million copies. He has also written for adults as D.B. Shan, and since 2014 under the name Darren Dash.