Claire Winn spends her days as a legal writer, her evenings as a sci-fi and fantasy author, and her weekends LARPing as a pyromaniac mage, junkyard druid, or celestial assassin. She grew up playing piano and performing musical theater, and went on to study history and political science at Northwestern University. More recently, she married into an equally nerdy gamer family and now lives among the forested backroads of Michigan. She is the author of the Requiem Dark cyberpunk series for young adults, and Shadecaller is her first fantasy novel. You can follow her misadventures at @clairewinnauthor on Instagram or on her website, clairewinn.com.
Claire is a science fiction and fantasy author. Her debut YA sci-fi novel, City of Shattered Light, released October 2021 from Flux Books, and the sequel and spinoff novella completed the series in 2023. She is represented by Kaitlyn Katsoupis at Belcastro Agency.
A gamer at heart, she writes books that are fast-paced, snarky, and driven by fierce, flawed characters.
Since graduating from Northwestern University, Claire has worked as a legal writer, freelance editor, and an editorial intern. On the creative side, she builds props and armor for cosplay and writes storylines for LARP games—in addition to battling with boffer swords.
Available Talks
I am available for library and school visits in the mid-Michigan area, and can also deliver remote talks via Zoom and Discord.
I can speak about the traditional publishing path (getting a literary agent and the path to publication), the craft of writing a novel, and general sci-fi and fantasy media.
Please contact me for more information!
Previous appearances include BookTalk, WriteOnCon, Penguicon, WriteMentor, and Marissa Meyer’s Happy Writer Podcast.
See my appearances page for more info!