Julie Anne Peters (born January 16, 1952) is an American author of

young adult fiction Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults. The subject matter and genres of YA correlate ...

. Peters has published 20 works, mostly

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

s, geared toward children and adolescents, many of which feature

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

characters. In addition to the United States, Peters's books have been published in numerous countries, including South Korea, China, Croatia, Germany, France, Italy, Indonesia, Turkey and Brazil. Her 2004 book ''Luna'' was the first young-adult novel with a

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

character to be released by a mainstream publisher.

Early life and education

Julie Anne Peters was born in

Jamestown, New York Jamestown is a city in southern Chautauqua County, in the U.S. state of New York. The population was 28,712 at the 2020 census. Situated between Lake Erie to the north and the Allegheny National Forest to the south, Jamestown is the largest pop ...

, on January 1, 1952. When she was five, her family moved to the suburbs of

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. Her parents divorced when she was in

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

. She has three siblings: a brother, John, and two younger sisters, Jeanne and Susan. Peters received a BA in

elementary education Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or firs ...

from

Colorado Women's College Colorado Women's College was a division of the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado, focusing on evening, weekend, and online courses for women. It originally opened in 1909 as a private women's college and merged with the University of Denver ...

in 1974, with a

minor Minor may refer to: * Minor (law), a person under the age of certain legal activities. ** A person who has not reached the age of majority * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Music theory *Minor chord ** Barb ...

in French. She taught fifth grade for a year, until she and the principal agreed that teaching was not the career for her. Peters then returned to school, earning a BS in

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

and

management science Management science (or managerial science) is a wide and interdisciplinary study of solving complex problems and making strategic decisions as it pertains to institutions, corporations, governments and other types of organizational entities. It is ...

from the

Metropolitan State University of Denver Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver or Metro State) is a public university in Denver, Colorado. MSU Denver is located on the Auraria Campus, along with the University of Colorado Denver and the Community College of Denver, in d ...

in 1985. During the next ten years, Peters worked as a

research analyst A financial analyst is a professional, undertaking financial analysis for external or internal clients as a core feature of the job. The role may specifically be titled securities analyst, research analyst, equity analyst, investment analyst, o ...

computer programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

, and

systems engineer Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their life cycles. At its core, systems engineering utilizes systems thinking p ...

. In 1989, Peters earned an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from the

University of Colorado Denver The University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) is a Public university, public research university in Denver, Colorado. It is part of the University of Colorado system. History University of Colorado System Anschutz Medical Campus The University ...

with emphasis in

information systems An information system (IS) is a formal, sociotechnical, organizational system designed to collect, process, information storage, store, and information distribution, distribute information. From a sociotechnical perspective, information systems a ...

Careers

Peters first worked as a teacher, teaching fifth grade and working as a

special needs education Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

assistant in the Jefferson County School District in Lakewood, Colorado, 1975. Peters then worked as a secretary, research assistant, computer programmer and systems analyst for Tracom Corporation in

from 1975 until 1984. Following this, Peters was a computer systems engineer for "Electronic Data Systems" in Denver from 1985 until 1988. Peters began her writing career with the publication of her first two books, ''The Stinky Sneakers Contest'', illustrated by Cat Bowman Smith, in 1992, and ''Risky Friends'' in 1993. Peters lives with her wife, Sherri Leggett, in Lakewood, Colorado.

Published works

*''The Stinky Sneakers Contest'' (1992) *''Risky Friends'' (1993) *''B.J.'s Billion Dollar Bet'' (1995) *''How Do You Spell G-E-E-K?'' (1996) *''Revenge of the Snob Squad'' (1998) *''Romance of the Snob Squad'' (1999) *''Love Me, Love My Broccoli'' (1999) *''Define "Normal"'' (2000) *''A Snitch in the Snob Squad'' (2001) *'' Keeping You a Secret'' (2003) *''

Luna Luna commonly refers to: * Earth's Moon, named "Luna" in Latin * Luna (goddess), the ancient Roman personification of the Moon Luna may also refer to: Places Philippines * Luna, Apayao * Luna, Isabela * Luna, La Union * Luna, San Jose Roma ...

'' (2004) *''Far from Xanadu'' (2005) – later republished as ''Pretend You Love Me'' *'' Between Mom and Jo'' (2006) *''grl2grl'' (2007) *'' Rage: A Love Story'' (2009) *''By The Time You Read This I'll Be Dead'' (2010) *''She Loves You, She Loves You Not...'' (2011) *''grl2grl 2'' (2012) *''It's Our Prom (So Deal With it)'' (2012) *''Lies My Girlfriend Told Me'' (2014)

Awards

Peters has won numerous awards including: *KC3 Reading Award, Greater Kansas City Association of School Librarians in 1995 for ''The Stinky Sneakers Contest'' *Best Book in Language Arts: K-6 Novels, Society of School Librarians International in 1997 for ''How Do You Spell GEEK?'' *Top Hand Award for Young-Adult Fiction, Colorado Authors' League in 1998 for ''Revenge of the Snob Squad'' *Best Books for Young Adults selection, Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults selection and Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers selection, all American Library Association (ALA) awards, in 2000 for ''Define "Normal"'' *Best Books for Young Adults selection and Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults selection, ALA, Books for the Teen Age selection, New York Public Library and Lambda Literary Award finalist in 2003 for ''Keeping You a Secret'' *Amelia Bloomer Project Recommended Feminist Books for Youth and Stonewall Honor Book, ALA, in 2004 for ''Keeping You a Secret'' *Buxtehuder Bulle nomination, National Book Award in Young People's Literature finalist in 2004 for ''Luna'' *Best Books for Young Adults selection, ALA, Books for the Teen Age selection, New York Public Library, Stonewall Honor Book and Lambda Literary Award finalist in 2005 for ''Luna'' *Rainbow REads selection, ALA, in 2005 for ''Far from Xanadu'' *Best Books for Young Adults selection and Quick Pick for Reluctant Young-Adult Readers selection, ALA, and Books for the Teen Age selection, New York Public Library in 2006 for ''Far from Xanadu'' *Lamda Literary Award, James Cook Teen Book Award, Ohio Library Council, Cybils Award finalist and Rainbow Reads selection in 2006 for ''Between Mom and Jo'' *Golden Crown Literary Award finalist and Rainbow Reads selection in 2007 for ''grl2grl'' *Books for the Teen Age selection, New York Public Library and Cooperative Children's Books Center Choice designation in 2008 for ''grl2grl''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Peters, Julie Anne 1952 births American children's writers Lambda Literary Award winners American lesbian writers LGBT people from New York (state) Living people People from Jamestown, New York Systems engineers University of Colorado Denver alumni American women children's writers 21st-century American women