| Laini Taylor | |
| Birth Date: | 11 December 1971 |
| Birth Place: | Chico, California, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Writer |
| Alma Mater: | University of California, Berkeley |
| Period: | 2004–present |
| Genre: | Young adult fantasy |
| Spouse: | Jim Di Bartolo (2001–present) |
| Children: | Clementine |
| Signature: | Laini Taylor signature (cropped).jpg |
Laini Taylor (born December 22, 1971) is an American young adult fantasy author and a finalist for the National Book Award in Young People's Literature,[1] best known for the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series, Strange the Dreamer, and Muse of Nightmares.
Taylor was born in Chico, California, grew up as a US military kid in Europe and California, and earned her English degree from UC Berkeley. She currently lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and daughter.[2] She always wanted to be a writer, and was 35 before she finished her first novel.[3]
In 2004, she wrote a graphic novel for Image Comics, illustrated by her husband, Jim Di Bartolo.[4] Her first novel, Dreamdark: Blackbringer, was published in 2007. The sequel, Dreamdark: Silksinger, was a winner of the 2009 Cybil Award.[5] In 2011, she published Daughter of Smoke and Bone, a young adult fantasy series. The first book in the series was chosen by Amazon as the Best Teen Book of 2011,[6] and the sequel, Days of Blood and Starlight, was also on the list in 2012.[7] In 2017, she published Strange the Dreamer, followed by its sequel Muse of Nightmares in 2018, in which protagonist Lazlo Strange, a scribe and polyglot, journeys to the Lost City of Weep. Taylor created a unique language for this world, which she weaves into the plot. Strange the Dreamer became a Michael L. Printz Honor Book[8] as well as the 2018 Leslie Bradshaw Award for Young Adult Literature.[9]