Akemi Dawn Bowman is an American author, best known for her William C. Morris Award Finalist young adult novel ''Starfish'', which follows a Japanese-American teenager named Kiko Himura who grapples with a toxic home life and attempts to find a back-up plan after being rejected for a place at her dream art school. Bowman's earlier work centered around realistic fiction, but she now writes across genres, starting with her sci-fi series ''The Infinity Courts'' which was released in April 2021.

Personal life

Bowman was born in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, and moved to

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, when she was a toddler. Her father is from

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

and has Japanese and Chinese heritage, and her mother is mostly Italian and Irish. Bowman was home-schooled for four years, and attended the Las Vegas Academy as a band major in high school. After graduating, she served with the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

for five years. She started writing her first full-length novel while on deployment. She has a degree in social studies from the

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the ...

. Bowman credits music as one of her big writing inspirations and had flute and piano lessons when she was younger. She often centers mental health in her novels because of her own experiences growing up. In addition to writing novels, Bowman has written short fiction for the '' Magic: The Gathering'' online web story "Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty". As of March 2020, she lives in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

with her family.

Works

Novels

* ''Starfish'' (

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

, 2017) * ''Summer Bird Blue'' (Simon & Schuster, 2018) * ''Harley in the Sky'' (Simon & Schuster, 2020) * ''The Infinity Courts'' (Simon & Schuster, 2021) * ''Generation Misfits'' ( Macmillan, 2021) * ''The Genesis Wars'' (Simon & Schuster, 2022)

Short stories

* in ''Kaito Origin Stories: A Test of Loyalty & The Path Forward'' (Magic: The Gathering online fiction, 2021) * in ''Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty'' (Magic: The Gathering online fiction, 2022) * in ''Being Ace: An Anthology of Queer, Trans, Femme, and Disabled Stories of Asexual Love and Connection'' (Page Street YA, 2023)

Accolades

Starred reviews

* ''Starfish'' received

starred review A starred review is a book review marked with a star to denote a book of distinction or particularly high quality. A starred review can help to increase media coverage, bookstore placement and sales of a book. Outlets that published starred review ...

s from ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' and ''

Booklist ''Booklist'' is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. ''Booklist''s primary audience consists of libraries, educators, and booksellers. The magazine is ...

''. * ''Summer Bird Blue'' received starred reviews from ''

Kirkus ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, non ...

'', ''Booklist'', and ''

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, wi ...

''. * ''The Infinity Courts'' received a starred review from ''School Library Journal''. * ''Generation Misfits'' received starred reviews from ''School Library Journal'' and ''

The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books ''The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books'' is an academic journal established in 1945 by Frances E. Henne ( University of Chicago Graduate Library School).Wedgeworth, Robert. ''World Encyclopedia of Library and Information Services''. C ...

''.

Honors

''Starfish'', ''Summer Bird Blue'' and ''Generation Misfits'' were each named a

Junior Library Guild Junior Library Guild, formerly the Junior Literary Guild, is a commercial Book sales club, book club devoted to juvenile literature. It was created in 1929 as one of the enterprises of the Literary Guild, an adult book club created in 1927 by Samue ...

Gold Standard Selection. Bowman's first middle-grade novel ''Generation Misfits'' was featured on the July/August 2021 cover of ''The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books'', and received a Big Picture honor and a starred review. ''Starfish'' was chosen as a

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

2017 Best Book for Teens, and ''Summer Bird Blue'' was chosen for the same honor in 2018. '' Paste'' magazine called ''Starfish'' "the best debut YA novel the year" in 2017, and later declared it one of the top 30 young adult books of the 2010s. In 2021, ''Harley in the Sky'' was named a top pick for the Kansas NEA Reading Circle List High School Title. '' Locus'' magazine included ''The Infinity Courts'' in its annual Recommended Reading List for the year 2021.

Awards

Won * 2020 Winner of the MéMO Award for Best Teen Novel for ''Starfish'' Nominated * 2018 William C. Morris YA Debut Award for ''Starfish'' * 2019 Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award Nominee for ''Starfish'' * 2020 Scottish Teenage Book Prize Finalist for ''Starfish'' * 2020 Falkirk Red Book Award for ''Summer Bird Blue'' * 2022

Locus Award The Locus Awards are an annual set of literary awards voted on by readers of the science fiction and fantasy magazine '' Locus'', a monthly magazine based in Oakland, California. The awards are presented at an annual banquet. Originally a poll ...

Finalist in the Young Adult Novel category for ''The Infinity Courts''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowman, Akemi Dawn Living people American women writers of young adult literature Year of birth missing (living people) American writers of Japanese descent American writers of Chinese descent 21st-century American women writers American expatriates in Scotland University of Nevada, Las Vegas alumni United States Navy sailors American writers of Irish descent American writers of Italian descent Writers from Pittsburgh American women short story writers American short story writers of Asian descent Writers from Las Vegas American women novelists American novelists of Asian descent Novelists from Pennsylvania Novelists from Nevada 21st-century American novelists American young adult novelists