Gillian Flynn facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Gillian Flynn
Flynn at the 52nd New York Film Festival, September 2014
Born	(1971-02-24) February 24, 1971 (age 54) Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Occupation	Author screenwriter showrunner producer
Alma mater	University of Kansas (BFA) Northwestern University (MSJ)
Period	2007–present
Genre	Fiction thriller mystery
Notable works	Gone Girl Sharp Objects
Spouse	Brett Nolan ​ (m. 2007)​
Children	2

Gillian Schieber Flynn (born February 24, 1971) is an American author, screenwriter, and producer. She is famous for her exciting thriller and mystery novels. Some of her best-known books are Sharp Objects (2006), Dark Places (2009), and Gone Girl (2012). Her books have been translated into 40 different languages. By 2016, Gone Girl had sold over 15 million copies around the world.

Early Life and Education

Gillian Flynn was born in Kansas City, Missouri. She grew up in the Coleman Highlands neighborhood. Both of her parents were teachers. Her mother taught reading, and her father taught film. Gillian has an older brother named Travis.

Flynn has said she was a very shy child. She loved to read and write. Her father's love for horror films also helped her enjoy storytelling.

As a young person, Flynn had many different jobs. She sold honey-baked ham and gave out yogurt samples. She graduated from Bishop Miege High School in 1989. Then, she studied English and journalism at the University of Kansas.

After college, Flynn worked for two years in California. She wrote for a magazine about human resources. Later, she moved to Chicago. She earned a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University in 1997. She first wanted to be a crime reporter. But she decided to become a creative writer instead.

Becoming a Writer

After finishing her master's degree, Flynn worked as a freelance writer. She then joined Entertainment Weekly in 1998. She started as a feature writer and later became a television critic. She left Entertainment Weekly in 2008.

Flynn says her time as a journalist helped her writing skills. She learned to write without waiting for inspiration. She believes that journalism taught her to just "do it." She says there is no special "muse" that makes you want to write.

Some people have criticized Flynn's female characters. They say her characters are complex and sometimes not very nice. They are not always nurturing or good. However, Flynn says she is a feminist. She defends her choice to write women who are not always perfect. She believes that people often expect women to be kind and caring. But she wants to show that women can also be "pragmatically evil, bad, and selfish."

In 2021, Flynn started her own book company called Gillian Flynn Books. It is part of the publisher Zando. As of 2025, she is working on her fourth novel. It will be published by Penguin Random House.

Her Books

As of 2025, Gillian Flynn has published three novels and one short story.

While working at Entertainment Weekly, she wrote her first novel. It was called Sharp Objects (2006). This book is a psychological thriller about a reporter. The reporter investigates murders in her hometown. The book was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel. It also won the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger award. Sharp Objects was later made into a TV show in 2018. Amy Adams starred in the show.

Flynn's second novel is Dark Places (2009). It tells the story of a woman who questions if her brother really killed their family. This happened during the "Satanic panic" of the 1980s. The book received good reviews. It was made into a movie in 2015, starring Charlize Theron. Flynn had a small acting part in the film. As of 2025, Flynn is creating a TV series for HBO based on this book. She is a writer and co-showrunner for the series.

Her third novel, Gone Girl (2012), is about a man named Nick Dunne. His wife, Amy, mysteriously disappears on their fifth wedding anniversary. Gone Girl was a huge success. It was on The New York Times Bestseller list for eight weeks. Over two million copies were sold by the end of 2012. Flynn wrote the screenplay for the successful 2014 movie. David Fincher directed the film, and Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike starred in it.

Flynn's short story The Grownup won the Edgar Award for Best Short Story. It was first published in 2014 in an anthology called Rogues. It was later released as its own book in 2015. The story is about a fake psychic who is hired to help with a troubled house.

Comic Book Story

Gillian Flynn loved reading comic books when she was a child. She worked with artist Dave Gibbons to write a comic book short story. It was called Masks. This story was part of the Dark Horse Presents series. It was published by Dark Horse Comics in February 2015.

TV and Movie Adaptations

Television

Flynn helped write and produce the HBO TV show Sharp Objects in 2018. She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for her work on the show.

In 2014, it was announced that Flynn would write a TV show for HBO. It was based on the British series Utopia. The project was later picked up by Amazon. Flynn wrote all eight episodes and was the showrunner. Utopia premiered on Amazon Prime Video in September 2020. The series ended after one season in November 2020.

Film

Flynn wrote the screenplay for the 2014 movie Gone Girl. She won the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for her work. She was also nominated for several other awards, including the Golden Globe Award and the BAFTA Award.

She also co-wrote the movie Widows (2018). She worked with director Steve McQueen on the script. The film starred Viola Davis and Liam Neeson. It was released in November 2018 and received great reviews from critics.

What's Next for Gillian Flynn

Gillian Flynn is currently writing her fourth novel. It will be published by Penguin Random House. She is also writing the movie script for her short story, The Grownup.

She is developing a TV series for HBO based on her novel Dark Places. She is also working with Tim Burton on a new version of the classic film Attack of the 50 Foot Woman for Warner Bros.

Personal Life

Gillian Flynn married lawyer Brett Nolan in 2007. They met while they were in graduate school. They have two children: a son born in 2010 and a daughter born in 2014. The family lives in Chicago.

Film and TV Work

Film

TV

Awards and Nominations

Literature

Film

TV

See also

In Spanish: Gillian Flynn para niños