Brandon Sanderson is the Utah-based fantasy and science fiction author behind the Cosmere shared universe (Mistborn, The Stormlight Archive, Elantris, Warbreaker, and related novels), plus separate lines like Skyward, the Reckoners, and the finishing volumes of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time.
If you googled his name because you want the short version of who he is, what the Cosmere is, and what to open first in 2026, this is that page. Deep reading paths live one click away.
Who Brandon Sanderson is
Born December 1975 in Lincoln, Nebraska, Sanderson bounced off assigned school books until an eighth-grade teacher handed him Barbara Hambly’s Dragonsbane. Epic fantasy stuck. After a biochemistry start at BYU, an LDS mission in Seoul, and a hard pivot to English, he wrote through the night desk at a hotel, stacked rejections, then sold Elantris to Tor editor Moshe Feder. The hardcover arrived in May 2005.
From there the public résumé is blunt: Mistborn trilogy, Stormlight as a projected ten-book campaign, Warbreaker, children’s Alcatraz books, co-host of the writing podcast Writing Excuses, and, after Robert Jordan’s death, the final three Wheel of Time novels (The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, A Memory of Light).
He teaches a creative writing section at BYU, runs Dragonsteel as a publishing and events company with his wife Emily as business manager, and still posts Weekly Updates that treat draft percentages like sports scores. That transparency is part of the brand.
Cosmere vs everything else
| Lane | What it is | Flagship on-ramps |
|---|---|---|
| **Cosmere** | Shared fantasy universe with recurring magic metaphysics and Easter eggs | *Mistborn: The Final Empire*, *The Way of Kings*, *Elantris*, *Warbreaker* |
