Hugh Howey

Hugh Howey is an American author best known for the Silo series, beginning with the self-published novella Wool in 2011, which follows the residents of a massive underground silo generations after some unspecified catastrophe made the surface world uninhabitable -- and the dangerous consequences of anyone questioning the silo's strict rules about what lies outside. Wool's grassroots success as a self-published ebook, building almost entirely through word of mouth before traditional publishers took notice, made Howey one of the most prominent examples of self-publishing success in modern genre fiction.

Before writing full time, Howey worked a range of jobs including as a yacht captain and bookstore employee, and he has remained an outspoken advocate for independent and self-publishing even after achieving mainstream success, retaining certain rights and formats himself rather than signing them over entirely. He expanded Wool into the larger Silo trilogy with Shift and Dust, and has written other science fiction, including the Beacon 23 series.

A new reader should start with Wool, ideally in its complete omnibus form rather than the original serialized novella parts. The series was adapted into the Apple TV+ show Silo, premiering in 2023 and starring Rebecca Ferguson, which closely tracks the books' central mystery while expanding some side characters.