Marie Lu (born 11 July 1984; birthname: ''Xiwei Lu'',

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

: 陸希未) is an American

young adult In medicine and the social sciences, a young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence, sometimes with some overlap. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages ...

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

author. She is best known for the ''Legend'' series, novels set in a

dystopian A dystopia (lit. "bad place") is an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives. It is an imagined place (possibly state) in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmenta ...

and militarized future, as well as the Young Elites series, the Warcross series, and ''Batman: Nightwalker'' in the DC Icons series.

Early life

Lu was born in 1984 in Wuxi, Jiangsu, China, and later moved to

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. In 1989, she and her family moved to the United States in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

when she was five years old, during the

Tiananmen Square Protest The Tiananmen Square protests, known within China as the June Fourth Incident, were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, lasting from 15 April to 4 June 1989. After weeks of unsuccessful attempts between t ...

. She grew up between

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, and

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, learning English by writing stories. She attended the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

, where she studied political science and biology, and interned as an artist at

Disney Interactive Studios Disney Interactive Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher owned by The Walt Disney Company through Disney Interactive. Prior to its closure in 2016, it developed and distributed multi-platform video games and inter ...

. Lu currently lives in the

Arts District An arts district or cultural district is a demarcated urban area, usually on the periphery of a city centre, intended to create a 'critical mass' of places of cultural consumption - such as art galleries, theatres, art cinemas, music venues, and p ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

with her husband, their son (born 2019) and three dogs.

Career

Lu's debut novel, ''

Legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the ...

,'' was published November 29, 2011 as the first of a

trilogy. Lu has said that she was inspired by the movie ''

Les Miserables LES or Les may refer to: People * Les (given name) * Les (surname) * L.E.S. (producer), hip hop producer Space flight * Launch Entry Suit, worn by Space Shuttle crews * Launch escape system, for spacecraft emergencies * Lincoln Experimental ...

'' and sought to recreate the conflict between

Valjean Valjean Johns (November 19, 1934February 10, 2003), who typically recorded under his first name only, was an American pianist best known for his recording of the theme song from the TV show ''Ben Casey''. Born in Shattuck, Oklahoma, Valjean stud ...

and

Javert Javert (), no first name given in the source novel, is a fictional character and a main antagonist of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel ''Les Misérables.'' He was presumably born in 1780 and died on June 7, 1832. First a prison guard, and then a police i ...

in a teenage version. Two other books in the planned trilogy, ''

Prodigy Prodigy, Prodigies or The Prodigy may refer to: * Child prodigy, a child who produces meaningful output to the level of an adult expert performer ** Chess prodigy, a child who can beat experienced adult players at chess Arts, entertainment, and m ...

'' and ''

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, Competition, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world champi ...

'', were published in 2013. Lu's first fantasy series began with publication of '' The Young Elites'' on October 7, 2014. It was followed by '' The Rose Society'' on October 13, 2015, and '' The Midnight Star'' on October 16, 2016. Lu and her husband, Primo Gallanosa, worked together on a game called Fuzz Academy, which was shut down after being hacked.

Works

''Legend'' series

* ''

'' (November 29, 2011) * ''

'' (January 8, 2013) * ''

'' (November 5, 2013) * ''Life Before Legend'' (Novella #0.5) (January 5, 2013) * ''Life After Legend'' (Novella #3.5) (2017) * ''Life After Legend II'' (Novella #3.6) (2018) * ''Rebel'' (October 1, 2019)

''The Young Elites'' series

* '' The Young Elites'' (October 7, 2014) * '' The Rose Society'' (October 13, 2015) * '' The Midnight Star'' (October 16, 2016)

''Warcross'' series

* '' Warcross'' (September 12, 2017) * '' Wildcard'' (September 18, 2018)

''Skyhunter'' series

* ''Skyhunter'' (September 29, 2020) *''Steelstriker'' (September 28, 2021)

''Stars and Smoke'' series

* ''Stars and Smoke'' (March 28, 2023) * ''Icon and Inferno'' (June 11, 2024)

''The New Alchemists'' series

* ''Red City'' (October 14, 2025)

''DC Icons'' series

* ''Batman: Nightwalker'' (''DC Icons'', Book 2) (January 2, 2018)

''Spirit Animals'' series

* ''The Evertree'' (''Spirit Animals'', Book 7) (March 31, 2015)

Standalone novels

* ''The Kingdom of Back'' (March 3, 2020)

Short stories

* "The Journey" in ''A Tyranny of Petticoats'', edited by Jessica Spotswood (March 8, 2017) * "Surviving"

References

External links

Author's Website

* ttps://www.latimes.com/books/la-xpm-2013-jan-24-la-ca-jc-marie-lu-20130127-story.html ''The Los Angeles Times'' on ''Prodigy''*
Interview
with

WGBH-TV WGBH-TV (channel 2), branded GBH or GBH 2 since 2020, is the primary PBS List of PBS member stations, member television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Affiliated stations and facilities WGBH-TV is the Flagship (broadcasting), ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lu, Marie 1985 births Living people Writers from Wuxi 21st-century American novelists American young adult novelists American women novelists American writers of Chinese descent University of Southern California alumni Writers of young adult science fiction Chinese emigrants to the United States 21st-century American women writers American women science fiction and fantasy writers American women writers of young adult literature