Terry Brooks was born in Sterling, Illinois, in 1944, where he spent a great deal of his childhood and early adulthood dreaming up stories in and around Sinnissippi Park, the very same park that would eventually become the setting for his bestselling Word & Void trilogy. He went to college and received his undergraduate degree from Hamilton College, where he majored in English Literature. He went on to get his graduate degree from the School of Law at Washington & Lee University, and became a practicing attorney for many years.

A writer since high school, always fond of fantasy and science fiction, Terry published his first novel, The Sword of Shannara, in 1977. "The book was," Terry admits "the grand result of years of trying to retain some form of sanity while studying law at Washington & Lee University." Discovered in the slush pile by publishing legend Lester del Rey, The Sword of Shannara went on to become the first work of fiction ever to appear on the New York Times Trade Paperback Bestseller List, where it remained for over five months. The Elfstones of Shannara followed in 1982, and The Wishsong of Shannara in 1985.

After publishing his first three Shannara novels, Terry knew that writing was not only his life's ambition but that he might actually be able to make a living with it as well. He closed his law practice, moved to Seattle and devoted all his free time to writing.

In Seattle, Terry started the new Landover series with the bestselling Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold!, which was followed by four additional titles in the series, and then several more titles in the Shannara series.

One of Terry's great idiosyncrasies is that he gets restless writing in one series for too long. He likes to take time off from a project so he can allow himself to explore new ideas, and later come back to an older series recharged and with more meaningful storytelling. Thus, during a break from both the Landover and Shannara series, Terry started in on a project that he'd been thinking about for several years: a darker, more contemporary fantasy set in a town similar to the Illinois hometown he grew up in. The result was Terry's critically-acclaimed 1997 novel Running With the Demon, Book One of the Word & Void Trilogy, which was followed up by two sequels, A Knight of the Word and Angel Fire East. Both Running with the Demon and A Knight of the Word, were each selected by the Rocky Mountain News as one of the best fantasy novels of the Twentieth Century.

In May 1999, while working on the Word & Void Trilogy, Terry—a lifelong Star Wars fan--was approached by George Lucas and asked to write an adaptation of the Star Wars®; film, Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace™. Last year, Terry published his first work of non-fiction, entitled Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life, a book of reflections, stories from twenty-six years of being a professional novelist, as well as advice for those just getting started. Terry also teaches annually at the Maui Writers Conference & Retreat and lectures extensively on writing.

THE HIGH DRUID OF SHANNARA: STRAKEN is Terry's twenty-fourth novel; he has sold over twenty-five million copies of his books and is published worldwide. He and his wife Judine journey back and forth between their homes in Hawaii and the Pacific Northwest.