Suzanne Collins, who wrote The Hunger Games, at the Time 100 Gala in 2010. Photo David Shankbone, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. No free image of the books' own cover art exists.
The Hunger Games and Sunrise on the Reaping
What it took directly
- statedThe Hunger Games (2008 novel) took from a night of flipping channels between reality TV and footage of the Iraq War"I was flipping through the channels one night between reality television programs and actual footage of the Iraq War, when the idea came to me." Suzanne Collins, in a written conversation with her publisher David Levithan for the tenth anniversary of The Hunger Games (Scholastic)
- documentedThe Hunger Games trilogy comes from Scholastic, which bought it in a six-figure deal through agent Rosemary Stimola in 2006"Scholastic acquired the trilogy in a six-figure deal via agent Rosemary Stimola in 2006" Publishers Weekly, June 9, 2008
- statedSunrise on the Reaping (2025 novel) took from David Hume's argument that the sun is not guaranteed to rise tomorrow (it gave the book its title)"So, is the sun guaranteed to rise tomorrow morning? David Hume would say no." Suzanne Collins, in a written conversation with David Levithan about Sunrise on the Reaping (Scholastic)
- statedLenore Dove (Sunrise on the Reaping) took from Edgar Allan Poe and “The Raven”"So, love of his life + her early death + his relentless grief = Edgar Allan Poe." Suzanne Collins, in a written conversation with David Levithan about Sunrise on the Reaping (Scholastic)
- documentedMockingjay (the trilogy's third book) took from the Vietnam nightmares Collins's father lived with all his life"The lifelong repercussions of Collins’s father’s service in Vietnam also provided her with a perspective that fuels a key plot twist of “Mockingjay,”" Susan Dominus, The New York Times Magazine, April 8, 2011
What it learned to do
- statedSuzanne Collins learned from her father, a historian and Air Force officer who taught at West Point before he went to Vietnam"My war stories came from my dad, a historian and a doctor of political science. The four years before he left for Vietnam, the Army borrowed him from the Air Force to teach at West Point." Suzanne Collins, in a written conversation with her publisher David Levithan for the tenth anniversary of The Hunger Games (Scholastic)
- statedThe Hunger Games trilogy learned from just war theory (Katniss and Gale argue its two sides)"Katniss and Gale's differences of opinion are based in just war theory." Suzanne Collins, in a written conversation with her publisher David Levithan for the tenth anniversary of The Hunger Games (Scholastic)
- documentedThe Hunger Games (2008 novel) learned from editors Kate Egan, David Levithan and Jennifer Rees"Collins worked with longtime editor Kate Egan, a former Scholastic editor who is now freelance, as well as Levithan and Scholastic Press editor Jennifer Rees." Publishers Weekly, June 9, 2008
- statedSunrise on the Reaping (2025 novel) learned from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (a story whose ending the reader already knows)"If you look at Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, we learn in the prologue that the lovers will die." Suzanne Collins, in a written conversation with David Levithan about Sunrise on the Reaping (Scholastic)
The tradition it sits in
- statedThe Hunger Games arena comes from the gladiator movies of Collins's childhood, especially Spartacus"A fascination with the gladiator movies of my childhood, particularly Spartacus." Suzanne Collins, in a written conversation with her publisher David Levithan for the tenth anniversary of The Hunger Games (Scholastic)
- statedKatniss Everdeen comes from the historical Spartacus (Katniss follows his arc from slave to gladiator to rebel)"I was also heavily influenced by the historical figure Spartacus" Suzanne Collins to Susan Dominus, The New York Times Magazine, April 8, 2011
- statedCoriolanus Snow comes from Shakespeare's Coriolanus, drawn from Plutarch's Lives"His first name, Coriolanus, is a nod to the titular character in Shakespeare's play who was based on material from Plutarch's Lives." Suzanne Collins, in a written conversation with her publisher David Levithan for the tenth anniversary of The Hunger Games (Scholastic)
Where the whole form comes from
- inferredKatniss Everdeen's missing father comes from Collins's own childhood while her father served in Vietnam"the anxiety provoked by an absent parent seems particularly pivotal in Collins’s fiction" inferred — Susan Dominus (The New York Times Magazine, 2011) notes that an absent parent “seems” pivotal in Collins's fiction; Collins is not quoted drawing the line to Katniss herself
- statedThe Hunger Games (2008 novel) comes from the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur (Athens's lottery of seven girls and seven boys)"As a young prince of Athens, he participated in a lottery that required sevens girls and seven boys to be taken to Crete and thrown into a labyrinth to be devoured by the Minotaur." Suzanne Collins, in a written conversation with her publisher David Levithan for the tenth anniversary of The Hunger Games (Scholastic)
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