Lauren James is the twice Carnegie-nominated British author of many Young Adult novels, including The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker, The Loneliest Girl in the Universe and The Quiet at the End of the World. She is also a Creative Writing lecturer, freelance editor, screenwriter, and the founder of the Climate Fiction Writers League. Her upcoming release is Green Rising, a climate change thriller.
Her books have sold over a hundred thousand copies worldwide, been translated into six languages and shortlisted for the YA Book Prize and STEAM Children’s Book Award.
Her other novels include The Next Together series, the dyslexia-friendly novella series The Watchmaker and the Duke and serialised online novel An Unauthorised Fan Treatise.
She was born in 1992, and has a Masters degree from the University of Nottingham, UK, where she studied Chemistry and Physics. Lauren is a passionate advocate of STEM further education, and many of her books feature female scientists in prominent roles. She sold the rights to her first novel when she was 21, whilst she was still at university.
Her writing has been described as ‘gripping romantic sci-fi’ by the Wall Street Journal and ‘a strange, witty, compulsively unpredictable read which blows most of its new YA-suspense brethren out of the water’ by Entertainment Weekly. The Last Beginning was named one of the best LGBT-inclusive works for young adults by the Independent.
Lauren lives in the West Midlands and is an Arts Council grant recipient. She has written articles for numerous publications, including the Guardian, Buzzfeed, Den of Geek, The Toast, and the Children’s Writers and Artist’s Yearbook 2022. She has taught creative writing for Coventry University, WriteMentor, and Writing West Midlands.
Pronouns: she/her
Contact Information
- Email: laurenjamesauthor@gmail.com
- Literary Agent & Film Enquiries: Claire Wilson (Rogers, Coleridge and White)
- Publicist: Kirsten Cozens at Walker
- If you need to interview an author for a school or university project, you can find an archive of answered questions I’ve been sent in the past here.
Latest news
- Cover reveal for Green RisingI am super excited to share the cover of Green Rising, my next novel! This was illustrated by Beci Kelly and designed by Chloé Tartinville at Walker Books. It’s being published on 2nd September, which is somehow only 3 months away!Continue reading “Cover reveal for Green Rising”
- Mentoring course + CrimeFest Awards shortlisting!Hey all, A few nice bits of news – my next WriteMentor course starts next week, and there’s still a place left. If you’re working on a YA novel, you can find out more here. The Reckless Afterlife of HarrietContinue reading “Mentoring course + CrimeFest Awards shortlisting!”
- Filtering the World – Writing craft chatI’ve been writing professionally for a decade, and one of the things that’s really developed in my technique is that I’m always interpreting the world through writing, 100% of the time. I make dozens of notes on my phone throughoutContinue reading “Filtering the World – Writing craft chat”
