Rosaria Munda grew up in rural North Carolina, studied political theory at Princeton, and lives with her family in Florida. She is the internationally bestselling author of The Aurelian Cycle trilogy: Fireborne, Flamefall, and Furysong.

Where did the inspiration for The Aurelian Cycle come from?

It was a mishmash.
An audiobook about the Blitz. A class about Plato’s Republic. How to Train Your Dragon in theatres. A summer working in Paris and a year working in Beijing. Over several years, Plato + dragon air battles + messy aftermath of revolution coalesced into an idea for a story.

Who is your favourite character in the series and why?

This is like asking a parent to pick her favourite child! Lee’s very noble brooding boyfriend material. Annie’s like me when I was a student, but better at flying a dragon. I’m fond of them both.

What would your dragon’s name be?

Can I say Toothless?

If you could visit any place in the world of the books, where would you go?

I think I’d visit Lee’s ancestral estate in the highlands of Callipolis. It’s a composite of my favourite geological features—the dramatic cliffs and vivid gorse of Scotland plus the travertine hot springs of Yellowstone—and there’s a comfy cottage.

Why do you love being a writer?

I love that when I tell people what I do, it gives them the opening to tell me about books they love. I get a lot of good book recommendations that way.

How did you become a writer?

Through persistence and luck. I started writing stories when I was about 8 and never stopped. Fireborne was the book I wrote right after university and the first one I tried to get published.

I received over 70 rejections, revised a lot, and when it was a much better book, it found the literary agent who said yes. Things went from there.

What is your favourite book?

Impossible to pick just one! In school, some of my favourites were The Once and Future King, Ender’s Game, and Never Let Me Go. At university, I fell in love with Middlemarch.

Most recently, a few books that have knocked my socks off were The Silence of the Girls, The Fifth Season, and The Wolf Den.

What are your top tips to start your first book?

Finish that first draft—even if it requires giving yourself pep talks! You can fix it later.

Fireborne

Want More Content Like This?