Art, literature & culture

Publication of The Hunger Games

14 September 2008

The Hunger Games is a young-adult dystopian novel by the American author Suzanne Collins, and the first in a trilogy that continues with Catching Fire and Mockingjay. It is set in Panem, a nation that rose from the ruins of North America, where each year the Capitol forces twelve districts to send a boy and a girl to fight to the death on live television. The narrator, sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, volunteers to take the place of her younger sister. The book explores poverty, inequality, propaganda and the way entertainment can numb people to violence. It became a bestseller and led to a series of films starring Jennifer Lawrence, beginning in 2012.

Open on the timeline

Before and after

More in Art, literature & culture

The era

This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 21st century.