Akemi Dawn Bowman | |
---|---|
Born | United States |
Language | English |
Nationality | American |
Education | BA in social science |
Alma mater | University of Nevada, Las Vegas |
Genre | Young Adult fiction, Middle Grade fiction |
Years active | 2017-now |
Notable works | Starfish, Summer Bird Blue, Harley in the Sky, The Infinity Courts series, Generation Misfits |
Notable awards | 2018 William C. Morris Award Finalist, 2022 Locus Award Finalist |
Website | |
www |
Akemi Dawn Bowman [1] 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. [2] 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. [3]
Bowman was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, when she was a toddler. [1] Her father is from Hawaii [4] and has Japanese and Chinese heritage, and her mother is mostly Italian and Irish. [1] Bowman was home-schooled for four years, [5] and attended the Las Vegas Academy as a band major in high school. [1] After graduating, she served with the United States Navy for five years. [6] She started writing her first full-length novel while on deployment. [6] She has a degree in social studies from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. [1]
Bowman credits music as one of her big writing inspirations and had flute and piano lessons when she was younger. [5] She often centers mental health in her novels because of her own experiences growing up. [7]
In addition to writing novels, Bowman has written short fiction for the Magic: The Gathering online web story "Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty". [8]
She currently[ when? ] lives in Scotland with her family. [6]
Starfish, Summer Bird Blue and Generation Misfits were each named a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. [25] 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, [24] and received a Big Picture honor and a starred review. [26] Starfish was chosen as a New York Public Library 2017 Best Book for Teens, [27] and Summer Bird Blue was chosen for the same honor in 2018. [28] Paste magazine called Starfish "the best debut YA novel the year" in 2017, [29] and later declared it one of the top 30 young adult books of the 2010s. [30] In 2021, Harley in the Sky was named a top pick for the Kansas NEA Reading Circle List High School Title. [31] Locus magazine included The Infinity Courts in its annual Recommended Reading List for the year 2021. [32]
Won
Nominated
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