About

Shannon Kelley is an author, screenwriter, filmmaker, editor, board game designer, and graphic artist. He lives in Kansas City, Missouri with his wife and three young sons. His passions include filmmaking, directing, drawing, and basically any type of graphic design, but he loves writing most of all.

Shannon's novel "The Highwayman" made the top 10 in the 2020 Launchpad/Coverfly manuscript competition, and ended up winning the Scott Thomas Mentorship Selection. It also reached all the way up to #1 in its category on THE RED LIST.

Shannon's novel "The Dark Rider" received a glowing review and a score of 9 out of 10 in the Publishers Weekly 2019 Booklife Prize. The same novel made the top 75 in the Tracking Board’s 2018 Launch Pad Competition, and in July of 2023 ascended to #1 on THE RED LIST in the Fantasy Category.

Shannon’s screenplay "The Ghost Robber" made the 2007 quarterfinals of the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting. Another script, "Jars of Clay," reached the top 15% of the Nicholl Fellowships in 2008. More recently, Shannon’s script "Eight Ball" made the quarterfinals in the 2016 Big Break screenwriting contest, and reached the top 15% in the 2015 Nicholl Fellowships. It also made the top ten in the Missouri Stories Scriptwriting Fellowship that same year.