Nic Stone
Andrea Nicole Livingstone (born July 10, 1985), known as Nic Stone, is an American author of young adult fiction and middle grade fiction, best known for her debut novel Dear Martin and her middle grade debut, Clean Getaway. Her novels have been translated into six languages.
Nic Stone | |
|---|---|
Stone in 2017 | |
| Born | July 10, 1985 Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Spelman College |
| Genre | Fiction for young adult |
| Years active | 2017-present |
| Notable works | Dear Martin |
| Website | |
| nicstone | |
Personal life edit
Stone was born and raised in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia.[1] She has a degree in Psychology from Spelman College. She is African-American[2] and is openly bisexual.[3] After college, she worked in teen mentoring and moved to Israel for a few years.[4]
Career edit
During a trip to Israel in 2008, Stone discovered that she wanted to become a writer when encountering a family with a story that fascinated her.[5] Stone wrote her first novel for young adults in 2017, inspired by American young adult novelist Veronica Roth's Divergent series because it was the first series featuring black characters that she encountered that live until the end.[5] That same book later landed her a literary agent.[5]
Dear Martin edit
Her debut novel Dear Martin, about a high school senior in a predominantly white school who starts writing letters to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after he has a dangerous encounter with racist police officers, was sold as a proposal in a two-book deal[6] and published in 2017 by Crown Books for Young Readers.[7] Stone has stated she began writing her debut novel Dear Martin after the death of Jordan Davis, a 17-year-old black high school student who was fatally shot by a white man in a hate crime in 2012.[8] The book debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at #4.[9] It was also chosen as a finalist for the William C. Morris award in 2017[10] and received a starred review from Booklist.[11] It has been published and translated in Germany, Brazil, Indonesia, The Netherlands, UK, Turkey, and Romania.[12] Two years after it was first published, Dear Martin again hit the New York Times bestseller list, for Young Adult Paperbacks and at #1, in February 2020.[13]
A sequel, Dear Justyce, about an incarcerated teen who is on trial for murder charges, was published in October 2020. Stone says she was not planning on writing a sequel. but encouraged by her publisher, and decided to write a book about a "black boy that everybody is afraid of."[5]
Clean Getaway edit
Her Middle Grade debut, Clean Getaway, illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile, was published by Crown in January 2020.[14] It tells the story of an 11-year-old Scoob, who goes on a roadtrip with his grandmother.[15] It received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly[16] and Booklist,[17] and debuted on the Children's Middle Grade Hardcover New York Times bestseller list, at #5.[18] Stone says the inspiration for the novel was a Twitter headline about a shoplifting grandma in Atlanta who turned out to be an international jewel thief.[15]
Other works edit
Her second young adult novel, Odd One Out, is about three queer teenagers of color in a love triangle and explores themes of gender, sexual fluidity and identity.[19] It was published in 2018 by Crown Books for Young Readers.[20][21] It also received a starred review from Booklist.[22] In 2019, her third novel, Jackpot, following a gas station clerk that she sold a winning lottery ticket to, was published by Crown.[5] Stone originally wrote the novel in 2015.[23]
In September 2019, it announced that Stone would write a novel focused on Shuri, from Marvel's Black Panther.[24] It was published by Scholastic in 2020.[24]
Stone wrote a young adult novel Blackout, released in June 2021, which she co-authored with Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon.[25]
Aside from young adult fiction and middle grade, Stone also writes essays, and her short fiction has appeared in multiple anthologies.
Starting in February 2022, Stone presented the 6 episode Marvel and Sirius XM podcast, the history of Marvel comics: Black Panther.
Bibliography edit
Young adult fiction
- Dear Martin (Crown Books for Young Readers, 2017)
- Odd One Out (Crown Books for Young Readers, 2018)
- Jackpot (Crown Books for Young Readers, 2019)
- Dear Justyce (Crown Books for Young Readers, 2022)
- Shuri: A Black Panther Novel (Scholastic, 2020)
- Shuri: The Vanished (Scholastic, 2021)
- Chaos Theory (Crown Books for Young Readers, 2023)
Middle Grade fiction
- Clean Getaway (Crown Books for Young Readers, 2020)
References edit
- ^ "Nic Stone Books, Author Biography, and Reading Level | Scholastic". www.scholastic.com. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
- ^ Stone, Nic. "This Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Remember He Was Disobedient". Bustle. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
- ^ "Nic Stone keeps it real". ajc. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
- ^ "Bestselling Novel 'Dear Martin' Addresses Racial Profiling & Killings of Unarmed Black Teens". WritersDigest.com. October 23, 2017. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e Nelson, George (February 20, 2019). "'Dear Martin' Author Shares Her Story With Students". Business Journal Daily. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
- ^ Foley, Maddy. "How This Author Is Challenging The YA Status Quo With Her #BlackLivesMatter Novel". Bustle. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
- ^ DEAR MARTIN by Nic Stone.
{{cite book}}:|website=ignored (help) - ^ Green, Adrienne (November 1, 2017). "The Teen Protagonist Writing Letters to Dr. King". The Atlantic. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
- ^ "Young Adult Hardcover Books - Best Sellers - November 5, 2017 - The New York Times". Retrieved November 11, 2018.
- ^ "Morris Award". Young Adult Library Services Association. February 27, 2012. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
- ^ "booklist dear martin - Google Search". www.google.de. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
- ^ "DEAR MARTIN - The Deborah Harris Agency". www.thedeborahharrisagency.com. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
- ^ "Young Adult Paperback Books - Best Sellers - The New York Times". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
- ^ CLEAN GETAWAY | Kirkus Reviews.
- ^ a b "Crown Picks Up Nic Stone's Debut Middle Grade Novels". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
- ^ "Children's Book Review: Clean Getaway by Nic Stone, illus. by Dawud Anyabwile. Crown, $16.99 (240p) ISBN 978-1-984892-97-3". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
- ^ Clean Getaway, by Nic Stone.
- ^ "Children's Middle Grade Hardcover Books - Best Sellers - Jan. 26, 2020 - The New York Times". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
- ^ "Writing Tips & Insights from Author Nic Stone | WritersDigest.com". WritersDigest.com. June 2, 2018. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
- ^ "Children's Book Review: Odd One Out by Nic Stone. Crown, $17.99 (320p) ISBN 978-1-101-93953-6". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
- ^ ODD ONE OUT by Nic Stone | Kirkus Reviews.
- ^ Odd One Out, by Nic Stone.
- ^ "Nic Stone: How I Write". The Writer. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
- ^ a b "Exclusive: An original 'Black Panther' novel centered on Shuri will publish next year". EW.com. Retrieved February 1, 2020.
- ^ Reich, Hannah (March 9, 2021). "Writing Black Lives Matter: Maxine Beneba Clarke and Angie Thomas on their latest books for children and young people". ABC News. Retrieved April 2, 2021.