Claire Legrand is an American writer of

children's A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person young ...

and

young adult A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...

literature, including novels and

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

. She is best known for her ''New York Times'' bestselling ''Empirium'' trilogy, published by

Sourcebooks Fire Sourcebooks LLC is an American independent book publisher located in Naperville, Illinois. The company publishes books, eBooks, and digital products. History The company was founded in 1987 by Dominique Raccah as a business and finance publis ...

Personal life

Legrand is from North

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

but now resides in

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

, where she worked as a

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time ...

. She is now a full time author. Legrand graduated from the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School, ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

in English Literature and a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast t ...

in Library Science. Initially, she planned to study music before switching to major in English. Legrand remains passionate about music and creates playlists for each of her published novels.

Career

Legrand published her debut novel, ''The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls,'' in August 2012 with Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. After its release, the middle grade novel was recognized as nominee for two children's book award: the Michigan Mitten Award and the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award. Legrand's second book, ''The Year of Shadows,'' released a year later in August 2013. In 2014, Legrand released Winterspell (September 2014), along with Summerfall (August 2014), a prequel novella, and Homecoming (December 2014), an epilogue available online in e-book form that is available for free on her author website. This set of stories was her first published work that fell into the category of

instead of middle grade. Legrand was also one of four contributors to ''The Cabinet of Curiosities: 36 Tales Brief & Sinister'', an anthology book that released in May 2014. Legrand has been included in two other anthologies to date, ''Guys Read: Terrifying Tales'' (September 2015) and ''Been There, Done That: Writing Stories from Real Life'' (November 2015). Her fourth full length novel, ''Some Kind of Happiness'', released in May 2016. This was a return to middle grade writing, and it was nominated for the 2017 Edgar Award, as well as being included in Publishers Weekly's Best Book of the Year list and the New York Library's Best Book for Children list. In October 2016, she released ''Foxheart'', her fifth novel and fourth middle grade book. In November 2017, advanced copies of Legrand's upcoming young adult fantasy, ''Furyborn'', were featured in a book subscription box, Fairyloot. When the book released in May 2018, it debuted at #4 on the New York Times Best Seller List. ''Furyborn'' was also listed as a Kids' Indie Next Pick for their Summer 2018 list. ''Furyborn'' is the first book of the Emperium trilogy, the series Legrand is best known for. Book two of the trilogy, ''Kingsbane'', also debuted in the #4 spot on the NYT List a year later in May 2019, and the third book, ''Lightbringer'', released in October 2020. Legrand's seventh novel, ''Sawkill Girls'', was another young adult horror standalone and released in October 2018. Notably, it was nominated for both a

Lambda Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature.The awards were instituted i ...

and the

Bram Stoker Award The Bram Stoker Award is a recognition presented annually by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in dark fantasy and horror writing. History The Awards were established in 1987 and have been presented annually since ...

. Her tenth novel, ''Thornlight'', released in April 2021 and was chosen as a Spring 2021 Kids' Indie Next Pick. This book is her latest middle grade novel to date. Her eleventh novel, ''Extasia'', released in February 2022 and was chosen as a March/April 2022 Kids' Indie Next Pick. It is a return to young adult horror. In May 2023, Legrand is set to release her twelfth novel and first adult book, A Crown of Ivy and Glass.

Bibliography

Middle Grade

*''The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls'' ( Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, August 28 2012; illustrated by Sarah Watts) *''The Year of Shadows'' (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, August 27 2013; illustrated by Karl Kwasny) *''Some Kind of Happiness'' (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, May 17, 2016) *''Foxheart'' (

Greenwillow Books HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Corp ...

, October 4, 2016; illustrated by Jaime Zollars) *''Thornlight'' (Greenwillow Books, April 20, 2021; illustrated by Jaime Zollars)

Young Adult

''Winterspell'': *''Winterspell'' (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, September 30, 2014) *''Summerfall'' (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, August 26, 2014) — ''Winterspell'' prequel novella *''Homecoming'' (available only as a free e-book download from Legrand'
website
December 29, 2014) — ''Winterspell'' epilogue ''Empirium'': *''Furyborn'' (

, May 22, 2018) *''Kingsbane'' (Sourcebooks Fire, May 21, 2019) *''Lightbringer'' (Sourcebooks Fire, October 13, 2020) ''Standalones'' *''Sawkill Girls'' ( Katherine Tegen Books, Oct 2, 2018) *''Extasia'' (Katherine Tegen Books February 22, 2022)

Adult

''The Middlemist Trilogy'': *''A Crown of Ivy and Glass'' (

, May 9, 2023) *''Untitled Book 2'' (Sourcebooks Fire, TBA) *''Untitled Book 3'' (Sourcebooks Fire, TBA)

Others

*''The Cabinet of Curiosities: 36 Tales Brief & Sinister'' (Greenwillow Books, May 27, 2014) — a book of short stories by

Stefan Bachmann Stefan Bachmann is a Swiss–American author of children's literature, Nonfiction, non-fiction, and Short story, short stories, as well as a musician, composer, and artist. He is best known for his debut novel, ''The Peculiar'', a gothic altern ...

, Katherine Catmull, Emma Trevayne, and Legrand; illustrated by Alexander Jansson *''Guys Read: Terrifying Tales'': (Walden Pond Press, Sep 1 2015) — a book of short stories by Kelly Barnhill, Michael Buckley,

Adam Gidwitz Adam Gidwitz (born February 14, 1982) is the author of the best selling children's books ''A Tale Dark and Grimm'' (2010), ''In a Glass Grimmly'' (2012), and ''The Grimm Conclusion'' (2013), all published by Dutton Books for Young Readers, an im ...

Adele Griffin Adele Griffin (born July 29, 1970) is an American fiction author, writing numerous novels for adults, young adults, and kids. Her novels ''Sons of Liberty'' and ''Where I Want to Be'' were both National Book Award finalists. Personal life Adele ...

and Lisa Brown, Nikki Loftin,

Daniel José Older Daniel José Older is an American fantasy and young adult fiction writer. His work includes the ''Shadowshaper'' ''Cypher'' series as well as novels in the ''Star'' ''Wars'' series. Career Older's career as a writer began in 2014, in the back ...

Dav Pilkey David "Dav" Murray Pilkey Jr. (; born March 4, 1966) is an American cartoonist, author, and illustrator of children's literature. He is best known as the author and illustrator of the children's book series, ''Captain Underpants'', and the chil ...

, R.L. Stine,

Rita Williams-Garcia Rita Williams-Garcia (born 1957) is an American writer of novels for children and young adults . In 2010, her young adult novel ''Jumped'' was a National Book Award finalist for Young People's Literature. She won the 2011 Newbery Honor Award, C ...

and Claire Legrand; edited by

Jon Scieszka Jon Scieszka ( :) (born September 8, 1954) is an American children's writer, best known for picture books created with the illustrator Lane Smith. He is also a nationally recognized reading advocate, and the founder of Guys Read – a web-based li ...

*''Been There, Done That: Writing Stories from Real Life'' (Grosset & Dunlap, Nov 3 2015) — a diverse collection of short stories by Gary D. Schmidt,

Linda Sue Park Linda Sue Park (born March 25, 1960) is a Korean-American author who published her first novel, ''Seesaw Girl'', in 1999. She has written six children's novels and five picture books. Park's work achieved prominence when she received the presti ...

, Grace Lin, Matthew J. Kirby,

Adam Rex Adam Michael Rex (born May 16, 1973) is an American illustrator and author of children's books from Tucson, Arizona. Career Adam Rex received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Arizona. He has contributed illustrations to ''Magic: ...

Jane Yolen Jane Hyatt Yolen (born February 11, 1939) is an American writer of fantasy, science fiction, and children's books. She is the author or editor of more than 350 books, of which the best known is ''The Devil's Arithmetic'', a Holocaust novella. He ...

, Heidi Y. Stemple,

, Karen Cushman, Caroline Starr Rose, Lisa Yee, Nathan Hale, Julia Alvarez, Kate Messner, Margarita Engle, Alan Lawrence Sitomer, Tracy Edward Wymer, Dee Garretson and Legrand; edited by Mike Winchell, illustrated by Eglantine Ceulemans *The Mandigore (short story published in " Guys Read: Terrifying Tales")

References

External links

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American short story writers American young adult novelists American children's writers American women novelists American women short story writers University of North Texas alumni Women writers of young adult literature 21st-century American women writers {{US-writer-stub