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Nina LaCour

Biography
Born in 1982, she grew up in Moraga.

After graduating Campolindo High School in 2000, she completed her bachelors degree in English with San Francisco State University in 2004, before applying to Mills College's MFA program [2] using test pages from a novel aimed at an adult audience. There, she took a variety of courses on young-adult literature half way through, and found herself drawn to writing about that time in one's life. [2] First half of Hold Still was her graduate theses. She worked as a bookseller at three different independent bookstores, including, starting at the age of 14 until she completed her Masters degree in 2006. This includes Diesel at Oakland. [1] She taught English at Maybeck High School for six years between 2007 and 2013, stopping when she gave birth to her daughter. [1] She has only lived in California [1] and currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her wife and daughter. She is started teaching on the MFA program in 2017 at Hamline University [1] Daughter born early 2013 [8]

Career
Chosen as a flying starts author [1]

FIRST She wrote her first book, "Hold Still" during school, and primarily for the love of writing. [4] When it came to publishing the book, it was trimmed considerably, losing at least 50 pages [5] SECOND Lacour experienced second novel syndrome while writing this book, spending a year writing very little. In contrast to her first book, The Disenchancements had a much shorter first draft than the final book. [6]

ELEADS she wanted to write a story of how two girls fell in love [4]

WE ARE OKAY LaCour's next novel, "We Are Okay", is a love story set across both west and east coasts of the United States.

It was witten while she was collaborating on You Know Me Well. [1] LaCour states the book has gothic elements [3] and that it is Hold Still's older sister [7]. It was being back in 2014 [8]

Of her writing style, LaCour states that she does not write linearly on her own work, instead writing vignettes from across the book non-chronologically. [1]

She prefers the revision and rewriting process to producing the initial draft [6]

LaCour has put queer characters in all of her books [1], but emphasises that

Everything Leads to You (2014)

You Know me Well (with David Levithan) (2016)

We Are Okay (201x)

Have queer relationships at their core [3]. She would like to see more diverse representation of families in picture books aimed at children [4], and believes that people should see themselves represented within whichever media they consume [4].

Representation and respect are key for her [4] Her favourite books in high school were

Out of the Girls’ Room and Into the Night by Thisbe Nissen, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape by Peter Hedges, and What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver [5] and read several Raymond Carver books in her teenage years. [7]

One of her favourite bands is Camera Obscura [6]

People s

Novels:

 * Hold Still (2009)
 * The Disenchancements
 * Everything Leads to You (2014)
 * You Know me Well (with David Levithan) (2016)
 * We Are Okay (201x)

Awards
[1] https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/72722-q-a-with-nina-lacour.html
 * 2018: Michael L. Printz Award For Excellence in Young Adult Literature [4] for We Are Okay
 * 2010: Morris Award Shortlist for Hold Still [5]

[3] https://www.popsugar.com/love/Interview-Nina-LaCour-About-We-Okay-43169629

[4] https://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/Nina-LaCour-LGBTQ-Pride-Interview-44884406

[5] http://yalsa.ala.org/blog/2010/01/11/interview-with-nina-lacour/

[6] https://distraction99.com/2012/02/13/writer-to-writer-interview-nina-lacour/

[7] http://www.baker-taylor.com/images/Interview%20-%20FEB17-v2.pdf

[8] https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/61962-q-a-with-nina-lacour.html

[9] https://lca.sfsu.edu/lcanews/2018/03/08/817704-voice-youth-alum-nina-lacour-honored-her-young-adult-fiction

Birth-year: 1982 - https://twitter.com/nina_lacour/status/250058514641321985 Married in 2008 https://twitter.com/nina_lacour/status/1050464570446438405 Diversity in YA: https://twitter.com/nina_lacour/status/467008310885904384?lang=en

http://www.diversityinya.com/2014/05/on-knowing-your-own-history/

AGE: https://lca.sfsu.edu/lcanews/2018/03/08/817704-voice-youth-alum-nina-lacour-honored-her-young-adult-fiction

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