Neal Shusterman

Neal Shusterman (born 12 November 1962 in New York City) is an American writer of young adult fiction, best known for the Unwind and Arc of a Scythe series and for Challenger Deep, winner of the 2015 National Book Award for Young People's Literature.

Shusterman grew up in Brooklyn and moved to Mexico City at 16, finishing high school at the American School there. He studied psychology and drama at the University of California, Irvine, and within a year of graduating had his first book contract and a screenwriting job. He has written for television, including episodes of Goosebumps and Animorphs, and the Disney Channel film Pixel Perfect.

His novels include The Schwa Was Here, which won a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award in 2005; the Skinjacker trilogy beginning with Everlost (2006); and Unwind (2007), the first of the Unwind dystology. Challenger Deep (2015), published by HarperCollins Children's Books, follows a teenager's experience of mental illness. Scythe (2016) received a Michael L. Printz Honor in 2017 and was followed by Thunderhead (2018) and The Toll (2019). Dry (2018) was written with his son Jarrod Shusterman. In 2024 he received the Margaret A. Edwards Award for his lasting contribution to writing for teenagers.

For collectors

The key titles for a collection are the first printings of Unwind (2007) and Scythe (2016), which open his two best-known series, and Challenger Deep, his National Book Award winner. Adaptations of all three are in development: Unwind for television, Scythe as a Universal film and Challenger Deep with Disney+.