Laura Steven

Laura Steven
Steven in 2018
Steven in 2018
Pen name
  • Laura Salters
  • Laura Kirkpatrick
  • L. K. Steven
OccupationWriter, novelist
Alma materNorthumbria University
Years active2015–present
Website
www.laura-steven.com

Laura Steven (also known as Laura Salters, L. K. Steven, or Laura Kirkpatrick) is an English novelist. She won the inaugural Comedy Women in Print Prize for her novel The Exact Opposite of Okay (2018).[1]

She has used comedy to explore feminist issues in her young adult novels, including an exploration of beauty in Every Exquisite Thing (her re-telling of The Picture of Dorian Gray)[2] and female rage in The Society for Soulless Girls (her re-telling of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde).[3]

Early life

Steven grew up in Berwick-upon-Tweed.[4] She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Journalism in 2013 and a Master of Arts (MA) in Creative Writing, both from Northumbria University.[5][6]

Career

Steven began her career in magazine journalism. In 2014 at age 23 under the pseudonym Laura Salters, she signed her first book deal with Witness Impulse (a HarperCollins imprint), through which she published her debut novel, a crime thriller titled Run Away, in 2015.[4][7] This was followed by her second crime novel Perfect Prey in 2016.[8][9]

Rebranding to Laura Steven, she gained prominence through her young adult Izzy O'Neill duology, the first of which, The Exact Opposite of Okay, was published in 2018 by Electric Monkeys (an Egmont Books imprint).[10][9] The sequel A Girl Called Shameless followed in 2019.[11] Under the name Laura Kirkpatrick, she also published the middle-grade fantasy novel And Then I Turned into a Mermaid via Farshore Books (formerly Egmont Books, since acquired by HarperCollins UK).[12][13] and its 2020 sequel Don't Tell Him I'm a Mermaid.

Also in 2020, Lime Pictures optioned the rights to adapt Steven's next young adult novel Love Hypothesis for television ahead of its release.[14]

Bibliography

Izzy O'Neill

  • The Exact Opposite of Okay. Electric Monkey. 2018. ISBN 978-1405288446.
  • A Girl Called Shameless. Electric Monkey. 2019. ISBN 978-1405288620.

And Then I Turned into a Mermaid

  • And Then I Turned into a Mermaid. Farshore Books. 2019.
  • Don't Tell Him I'm a Mermaid. Farshore Books. 2020.

Stand-alone novels

  • Run Away. Witness Impulse. 2015.
  • Perfect Prey. Witness Impulse. 2016.
  • The Love Hypothesis. Electric Monkey. 2020. ISBN 978-1405296946.
  • The Society for Soulless Girls. Electric Monkey. 2022. ISBN 978-1405296939.
  • Every Exquisite Thing. Electric Monkey. 2023. ISBN 978-0008627355.

References

  1. ^ Flood, Alison (10 July 2019). "Jilly Cooper tops inaugural Comedy women in print awards". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  2. ^ Steven, Laura (14 September 2023). "Laura Steven on the epiphanies she had while writing Every Exquisite Thing". CultureFly. Retrieved 14 November 2023. "Girls don't want beauty. Girls want power. And sometimes beauty is the closest substitute."
  3. ^ Harvey, Fran (7 July 2022). "INTERVIEW: LAURA STEVEN". Narc Magazine. Retrieved 14 November 2023. "Girls don't want beauty. Girls want power. And sometimes beauty is the closest substitute."
  4. ^ a b Steafel, Eleanor (7 December 2014). "Berwick writer Laura Steven signs Harper Collins book deal with her first-ever book". ChronicleLive. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  5. ^ "Northumbria graduate set for 'runaway' success". Northumbria Newsroom. 15 May 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  6. ^ "Creative Writing Student Successes". Northumbria University. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  7. ^ Mahady, Mick (18 May 2015). "Meet The Author 1 Laura Salters". HeadStuff. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  8. ^ Elyse (23 November 2016). "Perfect Prey by Laura Salters". Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  9. ^ a b Whetstone, David (27 July 2017). "Young Newcastle author's 'laugh-out-loud' novel is snapped up in two-book deal". ChronicleLive. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  10. ^ Stocka, Isabella (8 October 2018). "Review: The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Steven". The Nerd Daily. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  11. ^ "A Girl Called Shameless – announcing the next novel by Laura Steven". Fanshore. 17 August 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  12. ^ "And Then I Turned Into a Mermaid, by Laura Kirkpatrick". Bookshelves of Doom. 24 December 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  13. ^ "Laura Kirkpatrick". BookTrust. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  14. ^ Ritman, Alex (3 March 2020). "Laura Steven's YA Novel 'Love Hypothesis' Optioned by U.K.'s Lime Pictures for TV (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2 September 2024.