Marie Lu (born 11 July 1984; birthname: Xiwei Lu, Chinese: 陸希未) is an American young adult science fiction and fantasy author. She is best known for the Legend series, novels set in a dystopian and militarized future, as well as the Young Elites series, the Warcross series, and Batman: Nightwalker in the DC Icons series.[1]

Marie Lu
Lu in 2014
Lu in 2014
BornXiwei Lu
(1984-07-11) July 11, 1984 (age 40)
Wuxi, Jiangsu, China
Pen nameMarie Lu
OccupationNovelist
Alma materUniversity of Southern California
Period2011–present
GenreYoung adult fiction, Dystopian fiction
Notable works
SpousePrimo Gallanosa
Children1

Early life

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Lu was born in 1984 in Wuxi, Jiangsu, China, and later moved to Beijing.[2][3] In 1989, she and her family moved to the United States in Texas when she was five years old,[4] during the Tiananmen Square Protest.[5] She grew up between Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Houston, learning English by writing stories.[6] She attended the University of Southern California, where she studied political science and biology, and interned as an artist at Disney Interactive Studios.[6][7][8]

Lu currently lives in the Arts District of Los Angeles with her husband, their son (born 2019) and three dogs.[6][9]

Career

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Lu's debut novel, Legend, was published November 29, 2011 as the first of a young adult science fiction trilogy. Lu has said that she was inspired by the movie Les Miserables and sought to recreate the conflict between Valjean and Javert in a teenage version.[10] Two other books in the planned trilogy, Prodigy and Champion, were published in 2013.[11]

Lu's first fantasy series began with publication of The Young Elites on October 7, 2014.[12] It was followed by The Rose Society on October 13, 2015, and The Midnight Star on October 16, 2016.

Works

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Lu at BookCon in June 2019

Legend series

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  • Legend (November 29, 2011)
  • Prodigy (January 8, 2013)
  • Champion (November 5, 2013)
  • Life Before Legend (Novella #0.5) (January 5, 2013)
  • Life After Legend (Novella #3.5) (2017)
  • Life After Legend II (Novella #3.6) (2018)
  • Rebel (October 1, 2019)[13]

The Young Elites series

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Warcross series

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  • Warcross (September 12, 2017)
  • Wildcard (September 18, 2018)[14]

Skyhunter series

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  • Skyhunter (September 29, 2020)[15]
  • Steelstriker (September 28, 2021)

Stars and Smoke series

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  • Stars and Smoke (March 28, 2023)[16]
  • Icon and Inferno (June 11, 2024)

DC Icons series

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  • Batman: Nightwalker (DC Icons, Book 2) (January 2, 2018)

Spirit Animals series

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  • The Evertree (Spirit Animals, Book 7) (March 31, 2015)

Standalone novels

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  • The Kingdom of Back (March 3, 2020)[17]

Short stories

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  • "The Journey" in A Tyranny of Petticoats, edited by Jessica Spotswood (March 8, 2017)
  • "Surviving"

References

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  1. ^ "Marie Lu". Penguin Random House. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  2. ^ Lu, Marie. "Marie Lu (Author of Legend)". Goodreads. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
  3. ^ "Prodigy: A Legend Novel Audiobook". The Audiobook Store. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
  4. ^ "Marie Lu - About". Retrieved February 19, 2014.
  5. ^ "Novelist Marie Lu". PBS.org. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
  6. ^ a b c del Barco, Mandalit (8 September 2017). "'Young People Who Do Extraordinary Things' Are The Norm In Marie Lu's YA World". NPR.
  7. ^ De Groot, Kate (December 19, 2011). "Fall 2011 Flying Starts: Marie Lu". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved February 19, 2014.
  8. ^ "Artist Profile: The Defiantly Optimistic Storytelling of Marie Lu | Arts | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2023-05-04.
  9. ^ "Marie Lu - About". marielu.org. Archived from the original on 2010-12-30. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  10. ^ Wilkinson, Amy (29 November 2011). "Marie Lu Imagines A Teenage, Dystopian 'Les Miserables' In 'Legend'". Hollywood Crush. MTV. Archived from the original on 1 January 2015.
  11. ^ "Legend the Series". Retrieved 27 September 2013.
  12. ^ "The Young Elites". Marie Lu Books. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  13. ^ Lu, Marie. "Rebel (Legend, #4) by Marie Lu". Goodreads. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  14. ^ Canfield, David (May 14, 2018). "Wildcard: Preview Marie Lu's hotly anticipated Warcross sequel". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
  15. ^ "Skyhunter". Goodreads. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  16. ^ "Exclusive: Marie Lu's 'Stars and Smoke' Brings the Sparks in This Special Excerpt". Cosmopolitan. 2023-01-17. Retrieved 2023-05-04.
  17. ^ "The Kingdom of Back". Goodreads. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
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