Occupation Writer Nationality American | Language English | |
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Genre Children's fiction, Young adult fiction Notable works The Summer I Turned Pretty, To All the Boys I've Loved Before Alma mater University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Nominations Goodreads Choice Awards Best Young Adult Fiction Books To All the Boys I've Loved Be, PS I Still Love You, The Summer I Turned Pr, Burn for Burn, It's Not Summer Without Y Similar Siobhan Vivian, Rainbow Rowell, Stephanie Perkins, Sarah Dessen, Morgan Matson Profiles | ||
Justine magazine jenny han on writing tips romance her sister more
Jenny Han is an American writer of children's and teen novels.
Contents
Kirkus tv interview with new york times bestselling ya author jenny han
Early life & education
Han was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia and has one younger sister. After high school, Han went to college at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and later earned her MFA in creative writing at the New School, where she met fellow Young Adult novelists, Morgan Matson and Siobhan Vivian, the latter of which she would go on to cowrite the Burn for Burn Series with. Han currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Publication history
Jenny Han wrote her first published book, Shug, while she was in college. Shug is about Annemarie Wilcox, a twelve-year-old trying to navigate the perils of junior high school. Publishers Weekly said of the novel, "With its distinct Southern flavor, its presentation of universal conflicts and a cast of characters sure to be recognizable to readers, this book will likely draw a wide audience."
Her next project was a trilogy for young adults about a girl's coming of age during summers. The trilogy, which includes The Summer I Turned Pretty, It's Not Summer Without You and We'll Always Have Summer, quickly became a New York Times bestseller.
In 2011, Han began working on a new young adult series with fellow writer Siobhan Vivian about three high school girls who begin a mission to exact revenge on people who wronged them. According to Han, Han and Vivian "have been BFFs and writing buddies for years now. We’ve always traded our own pages back and forth, so this is a pretty natural progression for us."
She released a new book in 2014 called To All the Boys I've Loved Before, about Lara Jean Song Covey, a half-Korean high school girl whose life turns upside down when the letters she's written to all the boys she's had crushes on get sent out. Kirkus Reviews said of the book: "An ultimately compelling exploration of teenage growth and young love." Han embarked on a national book tour for To All the Boys I've Loved Before. The sequel, P.S. I Still Love You, was released on May 26, 2015 and was met with another national book tour. Additionally, the book won the Young Adult 2015-2016 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature.
In 2016, Han announced that she will be writing a third book about Lara Jean called "Always and Forever, Lara Jean" due out in spring 2017.