Hi!
I'm Laini Taylor.
I am a writer-artist-daydreamer-nerd-person,
and simultaneously a mom-wife-sister-daughter-person.
I can do a lot of things at once, like for example: I can sleep and dream and also lie very still,
all while also breathing and ever-so-slowly growing ten distinct toenails.
* * *
I write books for youngish people,
but they can also be read and enjoyed by oldish people, aka grown-ups.
You know grown-ups? They tend to be a little bigger and hairier than kids.
But not always.
* * *
I live in Portland, Oregon, USA
with my husband Jim Di Bartolo, who is an amazing illustrator and who I'm
always begging to draw me things,
and with our wee droll genius, Clementine Pie.
* * *
Some of my favorite things are books and bookstores
and breakfast food and mangoes and chocolate,
and cake stands and table cloths and old houses,
and going places (like libraries and other countries),
and dreaming up stories,
and making stuff (like cupcakes or peculiar dolls),
and playing with Jim and Clementine,
and taking pictures,
and falling asleep (so cozy)
and waking up (exciting!).
* * *
Thank you for being here. I hope you like me.
FACTY McFACT-FACTS:
It has been brought to my attention that there is no biographical material about me online, so here's a quick bit of facty things about me:
- born 1971 in Chico, California
- Navy brat, moved a lot growing up (Hawaii, Italy, Belgium, Virginia, California)
- speak some French and Italian
- Have always wanted to be a writer, always
- Have an older brother, Alex, and a younger sister, Emily
- Graduated Fountain Valley High School in Orange County CA in 1989
- Graduated UC Berkeley with a degree in English in 1994
- Attended the California College of Arts & Crafts for 3 semesters, studying illustration
- Have worked as a travel book editor (Lonely Planet), a bookseller, a waitress, and an illustrator/designer
- Married Jim Di Bartolo in 2001 in Berkeley CA
- daughter Clementine born in 2009 in Portland OR
- Books and travel are my favorite indulgences. And dessert. Also, I love to take pictures.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- The Drowned, 2004, Image Comics (graphic novel, illustrated by Jim Di Bartolo)
- Dreamdark: Blackbringer, 2007, Penguin/Putnam, illustrated by Jim Di Bartolo
- Dreamdark: Silksinger: 2009, Penguin/Putnam, illustrated by Jim Di Bartolo
- Lips Touch: Three Times, 2009, Arthur A. Levine Books, Scholastic, illustrated by Jim Di Bartolo
- Daughter of Smoke & Bone, 2011, Little Brown Books for Young Readers
- Days of Blood & Starlight, 2012, Little Brown Books for Young Readers
- story "Gentlemen Send Phantoms" in Foretold anthology, Random House, 2012
