| Rainbow Rowell | |
| Birth Date: | 24 February 1973[1] [2] |
| Birth Place: | Nebraska, United States |
| Occupation: | Writer |
| Nationality: | American |
| Period: | 2011–present |
| Genre: | Young adult, New adult fiction, Contemporary fiction |
| Notableworks: | Fangirl, Carry On, Eleanor & Park, Runaways |
Rainbow Rowell (born February 24, 1973) is an American author known for young adult and adult contemporary novels. Her young adult novels Eleanor & Park (2012), Fangirl (2013), and Carry On (2015) have been subjects of critical acclaim.[3]
She was the writer of the 2017 revival of Marvel Comics' Runaways[4] and is currently the writer for She-Hulk.[5]
Rowell was a columnist and ad copywriter at the Omaha World-Herald from 1995 to 2012.[6]
After leaving her position as a columnist, Rowell began working for an ad agency and writing what would become her first published novel, Attachments, as a pastime.[7] Rowell gave birth to her first son during this period and paused work on the manuscript for two years. The novel, a contemporary romantic comedy about a company's IT guy who falls in love with a woman whose email he has been monitoring, was published in 2011. Kirkus Reviews listed it as one of the outstanding debuts that year.[8]
In 2014, Rowell published Landline, a contemporary adult novel about a marriage in trouble.[9]
In August 2023, Rowell sold the future publishing rights to four adult novels. The first, titled Slow Dance, will be released in summer of 2024.[10]
In 2012, Rowell published the young adult novel, Eleanor & Park. This and her other novel Fangirl were both named by The New York Times as among the best young adult fiction of the year.[11] Eleanor & Park was also chosen by Amazon as one of the 10 best books of 2013,[12] and it also won as Goodreads' best young adult fiction of the year.[13] In 2014, DreamWorks optioned Eleanor & Park, and Rowell worked on a screenplay, but in 2016, Rowell said the option timed out and the rights reverted to her.[14] [15] In 2019, it was announced that Picturestart had acquired the film rights, with Rowell writing the screenplay and executive producing.[16]
Rowell's work garnered some negative attention in 2013 when a parents' group at a Minnesota high school challenged Eleanor & Park and Rowell was disinvited to a library event; a panel ultimately determined that the book could stay on library shelves.[17] Rowell noted in an interview that the material that these parents were calling "profane" was what many kids in difficult situations realistically had to deal with, and that "when these people call Eleanor & Park an obscene story, I feel like they’re saying that rising above your situation isn’t possible."[18]
In 2013, Rowell published the young adult novel Fangirl about Cath, a college freshman who writes fan fiction of a fictional book series about Simon Snow, a young mage at a magical school. It was influenced by the popularity of fan fiction of the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.[19]
In 2020, it was announced that Fangirl would receive a four-part manga adaptation, adapted by Sam Maggs and illustrated by Gabi Nam.[20]
Rowell created a trilogy of novels based on the characters from Cath's fan fiction in Fangirl. Her 2015 novel Carry On shares a title with the popular fan fiction story Cath wrote in Fangirl. In the novel, Simon Snow, in his eighth year at school, struggles to come to terms with his calling as the Chosen One meant to destroy the Insidious Humdrum, a magical force destroying the world of mages. He embarks on his quest with his best friend Penelope and his girlfriend Agatha, all the while "struggling" with Tyrannus Basilton "Baz" Grimm-Pitch, his vampire "nemesis." Rowell's Simon Snow trilogy was completed with the 2019 novel Wayward Son and 2021's Any Way the Wind Blows.
In January 2014, Rowell signed a two-book deal with First Second Books to author two young adult graphic novels, the first of which was illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks and released on August 27, 2019.[21] [22]
Rowell has also written two series for Marvel Comics. Between 2017 and 2021, Rowell wrote Runaways.[23] Since 2022, she has written She-Hulk.[24]
Rowell lives in Omaha, Nebraska, with her husband and two sons.[25] She has a sister named Jade and a half sister, Abby, who owns a popular local coffee chain in Omaha, NE.[26]