Scott Westerfeld | |
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 Westerfeld at Utopiales 2010 | |
| Born | May 5, 1963 Dallas, Texas, U.S. |
| Occupation |
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| Education | Vassar College (BA) |
| Period | 1990s–present |
| Genre | Young adult, science fiction |
| Spouse | |
| Website | |
| scottwesterfeld | |
Scott David Westerfeld (born May 5, 1963) [1] is an American writer of young adult fiction, best known as the author of the Uglies and the Leviathan series.
Westerfeld was born in Dallas, Texas. [2] As a child he moved to Connecticut for his father Lloyd's job as a computer programmer. He saw his father working with planes, submarines, and the Apollo missions.
Westerfeld graduated from Vassar College with a BA in Philosophy in 1985. [3] He began composing music as a teenager [4] and composes music for modern dance. [5] In 2001, Westerfeld married Australian author Justine Larbalestier.
As of 2013, Westerfeld divided his time between Sydney, Australia and New York City. [2]
Westerfeld is best known for the Uglies series, including the spin-off graphic novel series Shay's Story. Other novels of his include Afterworlds and, for adults, The Risen Empire and The Killing of Worlds , parts one and two of Succession.
Westerfeld began his career writing novels for adults, but switched to YA literature with his Midnighters trilogy. He has written four YA novels that take place in New York City: Peeps, The Last Days, So Yesterday, and Afterworlds. While The Last Days is not a sequel to Peeps, it follows a group of different characters in the same setting. So Yesterday is not related to these novels, but is often grouped with them because it is also set in New York City.
He has also written the Leviathan series, an alternate history trilogy set in World War I consisting of Leviathan , Behemoth and Goliath , plus its illustrated guide The Manual of Aeronautics .
In 2017, Westerfeld produced a graphic novel with illustrations by Alex Puvilland titled The Spill Zone. The graphic novel, released officially in October 2016 as an online syndication prior to the 2017 print release, [6] tells of a photographer who ventures back into her upstate New York hometown abandoned by a mysterious event to take pictures of the occurrences happening there since. [7]
In a blogpost in 2006, Westerfeld claimed to have ghostwritten five Goosebumps books, one of which was All-Day Nightmare, one of the entries in the Give Yourself Goosebumps series which came out in February 2000. [8]
Several of his novels have been optioned for films. So Yesterday has been optioned to be made into a film by one of the producers of Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine . [9] However, this option 'slowly died', as Scott Westerfeld wrote on his blog. The Uglies series was optioned in 2006 by Twentieth Century Fox as a possible film series. [10]
A major theme in Westerfeld's work is the idea of free thinking or questioning authority. In Uglies, the protagonist Tally rebels against her society's rules first with harmless pranks and eventually by leaving the city altogether. She finds a group of runaway uglies who refuse to conform to social norms that includes undergoing cosmetic surgery. Similarly, So Yesterday examines popularity and why certain trends are considered 'cool.' The novels praises innovators who think outside the box and come up with new fashion statements entirely on their own.
Another common theme in Westerfeld's novels is coming of age. Because Westerfeld writes primarily for young adult audiences, his protagonists are usually teenagers who find themselves over the course of the novel or series. Tally in Uglies, Cal in Peeps and Hunter in So Yesterday all struggle with finding where they belong until they come to terms with who they are.
Courage is another common theme in Westerfeld's work. His protagonists often face frightening or dangerous problems and have to rely on their own courage to overcome the problem. Often adults are not present during the time of crisis and the protagonist is left to his or her own devices. For example, Cal in Peeps is trained by adults on how to track down vampires, but he goes alone to actually catch them and must accomplish this task completely on his own.
The two books were re-published in 2005 in one volume, also titled The Risen Empire.
Alex Sanchez is a Mexican American author of award-winning novels for teens and adults. His first novel, Rainbow Boys (2001), was selected by the American Library Association (ALA), as a Best Book for Young Adults. Subsequent books have won additional awards, including the Lambda Literary Award. Although Sanchez's novels are widely accepted in thousands of school and public libraries in America, they have faced a handful of challenges and efforts to ban them. In Webster, New York, removal of Rainbow Boys from the 2006 summer reading list was met by a counter-protest from students, parents, librarians, and community members resulting in the book being placed on the 2007 summer reading list.
Laurie Halse Anderson is an American writer, known for children's and young adult novels. She received the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 2010 for her contribution to young adult literature and 2023 she received the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.
The Golden Duck Awards for Excellence in Children's Science Fiction were given annually from 1992 to 2017. The awards were presented every year at either Worldcon or the North American Science Fiction Convention (NASFiC). In 2018 they were replaced by Notable Book Lists of the same names sponsored by the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA).
Justine Larbalestier is an Australian writer of young adult fiction best known for her 2009 novel, Liar.
Orson Scott Card is an American writer known best for his science fiction works. He is the only person to have won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in consecutive years, winning both awards for his novel Ender's Game (1985) and its sequel Speaker for the Dead (1986). A feature film adaptation of Ender's Game, which Card coproduced, was released in 2013. Card also wrote the Locus Fantasy Award-winning series The Tales of Alvin Maker (1987–2003).
Uglies is a 2005 dystopian novel by Scott Westerfeld. It is set in a future post-scarcity world in which everyone is considered an "Ugly" until they are then turned "Pretty" by extreme cosmetic surgery when they reach the age of 16. It tells the story of a teenager, Tally Youngblood, who rebels against society's enforced conformity after her friends Shay and David show her the downsides to becoming a "Pretty".
Pretties is a 2005 science fiction novel and the second book of the Uglies Trilogy written by Scott Westerfeld. The premise of the novel relies on a future set in a future dystopian world in which everyone is turned "Pretty" by extreme cosmetic surgery upon reaching age 16. It tells the story of teenager, Tally Youngblood, who rebels against society's enforced conformity in the hope of exposing society's dangerous obsessions with perfection and uniformity.
Specials is the third novel in the Uglies series of novels, written by the American author Scott Westerfeld. It continues the story of the protagonist, Tally Youngblood.
Peeps is a 2005 novel by Scott Westerfeld revolving around a parasite which causes people to become cannibalistic and repelled by that which they once loved. It follows the protagonist, Cal Thompson, as he lives with this parasite and tries to uncover a possible threat to the whole population of the world. The apocalyptic threat to the world that begins in Peeps continues in The Last Days, which features some of the same characters.
So Yesterday is a young adult suspense novel by Scott Westerfeld published in 2004. It has won a Victorian Premier's Award and is also an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. So Yesterday, the author's third publication, is considered his "breakout novel" and has been optioned to be made into a film by one of the producers of Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine. This novel explores issues surrounding marketing, especially marketing targeted at youth, the Technology adoption life cycle, and culture jamming.
The Risen Empire is a science fiction novel by American writer Scott Westerfeld.
Extras is a young adult science fiction novel written by Scott Westerfeld. The novel was published and released by Simon & Schuster on October 2, 2007, and is a companion book to the Uglies series. However, Extras differs from its predecessors in that its protagonist is fifteen-year-old Aya Fuse, not Tally Youngblood. Tally is not the main character but still appears in the book's later chapters in a major role.
Uglies is a book series by Scott Westerfeld for young adults. Westerfeld originally intended for Uglies to be a trilogy. However, after publishing the series' first three novels, Uglies, Pretties, and Specials, he ultimately wrote an additional fourth book, Extras. This fourth book is dedicated "[t]o everyone who wrote to me to reveal the secret definition of the word 'trilogy'." On February 2, 2018, Westerfeld announced a continuation of the series consisting of four new novels, the first one being Impostors, that was released in September 2018.
Leviathan is a 2009 novel written by Scott Westerfeld and illustrated by Keith Thompson. It is the first work in the trilogy of the same name, followed by sequels Behemoth and Goliath. The trilogy is set in an alternative version of World War I in which the Central Powers use mechanized war machines and the Triple Entente fabricate living creatures genetically for use in battle. Leviathan was named the Best Young Adult Novel by the Aurealis Award in 2009, Locus in 2010, and Mir Fantastiki in 2011.
Margaret Stiefvater is an American writer of young adult fiction. She is best known for her fantasy series The Wolves of Mercy Falls and The Raven Cycle.
Penni Russon is an Australian writer of children's literature and young adult fiction.
Gail Sidonie Sobat is a Canadian writer, educator, singer and performer. She is the founder and coordinator of YouthWrite, a writing camp for children, a non-profit and charitable society. Her poetry and fiction, for adults and young adults, are known for her controversial themes. For 2015, Sobat was one of two writers in residence with the Metro Edmonton Federation of Libraries. She is also the founder of the Spoken Word Youth Choir in Edmonton.
Goliath is a biopunk/steampunk novel by Scott Westerfeld, and illustrated by Keith Thompson. The novel is the third and final installment in the Leviathan series after Behemoth, released on September 20, 2011.
Afterworlds is a fiction novel by New York Times bestselling author Scott Westerfeld that was published on September 23, 2014. The slogan for the book is, "Darcy writes the words. Lizzie lives them."
Uglies is a 2024 American science fiction drama film directed by McG and written by Jacob Forman, Vanessa Taylor, and Whit Anderson. Based on the novel of the same name by Scott Westerfeld, the plot centers around a future post-apocalyptic dystopian society in which people are considered "ugly" until they become "pretty" by enduring extensive cosmetic surgery at the age of 16. The film stars Joey King, Keith Powers, Chase Stokes, Brianne Tju, Jan Luis Castellanos, Charmin Lee, and Laverne Cox.
Born: May 5, 1963 Dallas, Texas, USA
