Raven Leilani Baptiste (born August 26, 1990) is an American writer who publishes under the name Raven Leilani. Her debut novel '' Luster'' was released in 2020 to critical acclaim.
Early life and education
Leilani grew up in a family of artists in the
Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
before they moved to a suburb of
Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...
. She grew up as a
Seventh-day Adventist
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventism, Adventist Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the Names of the days of the week#Numbered days of the week, seventh day of the ...
, and later left the church. Having attended an art high school, Leilani expected to become a visual artist. She graduated
Marist College
Marist College is a private university in Poughkeepsie, New York. Founded in 1905, Marist was formed by the Marist Brothers, a Catholic religious institute, to prepare brothers for their vocations as educators. In 2003, it became a secular in ...
located in Poughkeepsie, NY in 2012, where she studied English and psychology.
Her first job was as an imaging specialist at
Ancestry.com
Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites.
In November 2018, ...
, having previously worked in the archives of Marist College as an undergraduate. Later, she worked at a scientific journal, for the US Department of Defense, and as a delivery person for
Postmates
Postmates is a food delivery service, founded in 2011, and acquired by Uber in 2020. It offers local delivery of restaurant-prepared meals and other goods. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
, Postmates operates in 2,940 U.S. c ...
in Washington, D.C. She also worked as an archivist at
Macmillan
MacMillan, Macmillan, McMillen or McMillan may refer to:
People
* McMillan (surname)
* Clan MacMillan, a Highland Scottish clan
* Harold Macmillan, British statesman and politician
* James MacMillan, Scottish composer
* William Duncan MacMillan ...
. In 2017, she began pursuing her MFA at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
, where she studied under
Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith FRSL (born Sadie; 25 October 1975) is an English novelist, essayist, and short-story writer. Her debut novel, ''White Teeth'' (2000), immediately became a best-seller and won a number of awards. She has been a tenured professor ...
and with writers
Katie Kitamura
Katie Kitamura is an American novelist, journalist, and art critic. She is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at the London Consortium.
Early life and education
Katie Kitamura was born in Sacramento, California in 1979 to a family of Japanese ...
, and
Jonathan Safran Foer
Jonathan Safran Foer (; born February 21, 1977) is an American novelist. He is known for his novels ''Everything Is Illuminated'' (2002), '' Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close'' (2005), '' Here I Am'' (2016), and for his non-fiction works ''Eatin ...
. She now lives in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
.
Career
Leilani's debut novel '' Luster'' received significant attention at its publishing. The book's publisher,
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...
named the book its novel of August 2020 as part of their "Dare to Imagine" campaign. It is also part of
Marie Claire
''Marie Claire'' is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937, followed by the United Kingdom in 1941. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on wo ...
's book club and has been lauded by outlets including ''
Elle
''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...
'', the ''
HuffPost
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'', ''
BuzzFeed News
''BuzzFeed News'' is an American news website published by BuzzFeed. It has published a number of high-profile scoops, including the Steele dossier, for which it was heavily criticized, and the FinCEN Files. Since its establishment in 2011, it ...
'', the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''. It has been praised by
Carmen Maria Machado
''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...
,
Brit Bennett
Brit Bennett is an American writer based in Los Angeles. Her debut novel ''The Mothers'' (2016) was a ''New York Times'' best-seller. Her second novel, ''The Vanishing Half'' (2020), was also a ''New York Times'' best-seller and it was chosen as ...
,
Angela Flournoy
Angela Flournoy is an American writer. Her debut novel '' The Turner House'' (2015) won the First Novelist Award and was shortlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction, shortlisted for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction, nomi ...
, and Zadie Smith. ''
Kirkus Reviews
''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...
'' awarded ''Luster'' the 2020
Kirkus Prize
The Kirkus Prize is an American literary award conferred by the book review magazine ''Kirkus Reviews''. Established in 2014, the Kirkus Prize bestows annually. Three authors are awarded each, divided into three categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, ...
for Fiction. ''Luster'' was also awarded the 2020
Center for Fiction First Novel Prize __NOTOC__
The Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize is an annual award presented by The Center for Fiction, a non-profit organization in New York City, for the best debut novel. From 2006 to 2011, it was called the John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Pri ...
, the 2020 John Leonard Prize at the
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English". the 2021
Dylan Thomas Prize The Dylan Thomas Prize is a leading prize for young writers presented annually. The prize, named in honour of the Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas, brings international prestige and a remuneration of £30,000 (~$46,000). It is open to published w ...
, and the 2021 VCU Cabell
First Novelist Award The VCU Cabell First Novelist Award is an American literary award for debut novels. It has been presented annually since 2002 on behalf of Virginia Commonwealth University's MFA in Creative Writing Program.
Nominations are solicited from MFA progr ...
Leilani's writing is influenced by her background as a visual artist, her life experiences, poetry, and a love of comic books and music. She has written for publications including ''Esquire'', ''The Cut'', and ''Vogue''.